Promises of Loyalty
by Karista N
Summary: UPDATING AGAIN! When Tifa fails at her first solo mission with AVALANCHE she finds herself thrown into the arms of a stranger who might not be so strange. Now, will she keep her dream of her promise with Cloud, or go for the man who was always there?
1. Apprehension and Tifa's Solo

Notes: This story begins a few years after the Mt. Nibel incident, but prior to Zack and Cloud's exodus from ShinRa...in other words, this precedes both the game and the Last Order OVA. Spoilers only if you've never seen Last Order or never played the first, er, 2-3 discs of the game. Rated M for violence and suggested sexual content starting in chapter 4 and continuing there on in. 

There IS a full-on lemon version of this fic. As of chapter 4 it turns NC-17 and continues the trend from there. To read this version (assuming you are of age), check out AdultFanFiction dot net and look for my same penname in the Final Fantasy section.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, the settings, or characters depicted within this work of fiction. I make no money off it whatsoever.

Chapter 1 - Apprehension and Tifa's Solo

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It was that flashback again; the raging flames swirled up around her as she watched his body flung from the exploding reactor. The sword was sill there, impaled through his left shoulder until his body hit the canyon floor with a sickening thud. The sword reversed itself out and fell at his side, still wet with his blood. His eyes trailed up to the sky, which was slowly filling with smoke from the burning village. The moon was full that night, just as on the night when he made his promise.

"I'll protect you, Tifa. I'll join SOLDIER and become a top-ranking officer, just like Sephiroth! Then, I'll come back and be your hero...I'll protect you."

Tifa's eyes shot open. A dream. Her hand reached for her abdomen and found the scar from that fateful night. The physical wound had healed, leaving only a small pink line across her torso, but the memories still haunted her. Rolling over, she bunched the pillow up beneath her head and looked over to the sleeping child next to her. Marlene was peacefully sleeping, stirring only slightly in her dreams. Tifa smiled; it had been days since she slept as peacefully as Barret's surrogate daughter was. She flipped over and looked toward the ceiling, her mind running through the plans they had formulated over the past month. It was the apprehension of the upcoming mission that kept her awake at nights. Instead of a true team effort like they normally would have planned, each member of Avalanche was assigned a solo job that would lead them all together at the main reactor. It wasn't the biggest job they had pulled, rather a small one since funds that month were short, but it was the first time that she would truly act alone on one of their missions. Her eyes closed as she tried to put her fears to rest; Barret knew her capabilities, so there was no way he could put her in any more danger than she could handle.

The next morning a terrifying shock sent Tifa bolting up from her bed. Barret stood at the foot of the bed, his leg resting on the edge where he had kicked it to rouse her from sleep. "Time to go get some revenge on those no good $&#! ShinRa!" he yelled, almost smiling.

Tifa reached over to the bed next to her and covered Marlene up who had squirmed out from beneath the sheets at Barret's rather loud wake up call. "Barret, I wish you'd be a little quieter for Marlene's sake." Tifa scolded, having become like a mother to the small girl.

"Sorry..." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head as he turned to the conference table, "but it's time we get going! Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are waiting for us upstairs." Tifa mumbled and stood up, grabbing her clothes and running to the bathroom to change. Moments later, she was assembled with the others in the bar, running through the last minute plans.

"So, Jessie will enter on the north side of the building, disable the security there, and allow the rest of us to gain access. Biggs will be stationed on the roof as the surveillance point while myself, Tifa, and Wedge enter from the East, West, and South sides. Take out any guards you find and make your way through the building to the central control room. We'll meet up there and bring Biggs down, and then Jessie will hack into the control system while the rest of us keep the guard busy. Everyone got it?" The party nodded to Barret and gathered their equipment as Marlene waved good-bye to everyone.

Tifa pulled her gloves on tight and patted Marlene on the head, "Be a good girl for our neighbors now, and help keep things running, ok?"

Marlene smiled, "I'll be good and take care of your bar, Tifa, I promise!" Tifa smiled sadly, partially at the fact she had to leave her bar to the protection of a little girl, but mostly because of those words.

"I promise"

His voice echoed through her head once again, but she shook it off and caught up to the others who were boarding the train to head for the ShinRa control building. As the cars rumbled along their track, Tifa stood nervously in the aisle, jabbing at the air to warm herself up. Barret looked up from his maps and watched her for a second, "Jes' sit down, ya hear? Gonna get yourself all worked up for nothin'...save it for the ShinRa." Tifa paused and brought down her fists then sighed and took a seat next to him. A few minutes passed as she nervously tapped her foot and toyed with the ends of her hair. Finally, she stood and paced up and down the car before it screeched to a halt at the station. Brushing herself off, she scrambled up from where she had landed on the floor and stepped out onto the platform with the others. "This is it." Barret whispered, "You all know the plan, let's quit stallin' and get in there!"

The group split, each member running off in an opposite direction, and Tifa was left standing alone to head toward her job. She drew a deep breath, exhaled, and took off toward the west side of the complex. The square building was surrounded by a network of alleys used as storage for various crates and boxes containing god knows what. As she ran down one of the damp, narrow passages, footsteps from behind alerted her that the guard had picked up on her entrance. She ducked behind a pile of crates and waited in the shadows as two guards passed by, guns in hand, apparently searching for something.

"They said they spotted her coming down here," one of them mumbled to the other as they continued on.

After they passed by, Tifa stepped out of the shadows and snickered to herself, "Idiots..." she mumbled as she walked on toward the next area.

A hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder and held her back, "Some are...but not all of us are going to ignore a pretty girl sneaking in here." Tifa spun around into a defensive stance and looked at the figure that had snuck up behind her. He was tall and slender with jet-black spiked hair reaching down past his waist. His uniform was that of a class A SOLDIER and he had a massive sword strapped on his back.

She held her fists up before her face and began stepping back a few paces, "Don't get in my way. I have a mission and I will finish it, even if that means I have to take you down first."

The man grinned, "You're a pretty feisty one, hm? So you think you're going to break into ShinRa facilities with your bare hands?" He stepped toward her and took her chin in his hand, bringing her eyes up to meet his, "I don't want to have to fight you, I'd really hate putting a cute chick like you in the hospital"  
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Continued in Chapter 2 - Struggle in the Dark 


	2. Struggle in the Dark

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, the settings, or characters depicted within this work of fiction. I make no money off it whatsoever.

Chapter 2 - Struggle in the Dark

Tifa shifted back, smacking his hand away as she turned a cold glare to his grinning face. "I don't intend to back down," she muttered, "not when you're the ones hurting the planet." Suddenly, she sprang forward with her right hand balled into a fist, "Don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl!" He saw the move and shifted to the side, but her punch caught enough of his shoulder to send him stumbling back. Falling back, his hand landed flat on the pavement and stopped the momentum, allowing him to launch himself into the air. As he began his decent, he unsheathed the massive sword strapped to his back and aimed it downward. Tifa glanced up to see a pair of mako green eyes glinting with excitement and a large chunk of metal heading toward her. The man hit the ground again and the blade shot out, setting off a shower of sparks where it scraped the pavement. The sword cut close and landed a strong hit on Tifa's left ankle.

Pain shot up her leg as the force of his attack threw her balance off and sent her sprawling backwards. She hit the damp pavement with a thud and immediately struggled to get back on her feet, managing to get into a crouching stance within seconds. Her uninjured right leg suddenly shot out at her assailant, swinging upward and catching his left knee. He grunted as the leg buckled beneath him, causing the SOLDIER to go down on hard on the knee. He thrust the sword down in an attempt to catch himself and steady his collapse, using it to vault up into the air and bring a leg down into her side. The kick sent Tifa flying back into a nearby pile of boxes where she collapsed. He landed on the ground, back turned to her as she scrambled to get out from the broken chunks of wood and debris. After catching her breath for a moment, she darted forward and shot her elbow out toward the middle of his back. Before her move could connect, the SOLDIER spun around and tossed a small black tube at her face. Suddenly, Tifa felt as if her eyes were being covered over by petroleum jelly. As the world went black, her elbow connected with his previously injured shoulder causing him to fall to his knees as the pain shot through his arm. She lashed out at the space where he had previously stood, but her blows met empty air as he rolled from beneath her strikes and stood up a few feet from her. Meeting no flesh where she was attacking, she spun to face away from him and struck out once again, groping blindly for anything to help orient herself.

Silently, he crept up on his opponent and briefly touched a small glowing marble on his bracelet. The marble glowed brighter as he concentrated for a moment, then he placed his open palm on her back as the power of the materia began to enter her body. Her back felt warm for a second, and then trails of fire traced themselves up her spine and through her neck and head. Tifa screamed for a second before her throat closed up and silenced her protests, a piercing ring sounding in her ears. Before she could turn to where the hand had come from, her wrists were captured in a pair of metal handcuffs. Her captor smirked as the lock light flashed from green to red and his prisoner was taken. Tifa struggled against the restraints but the thick metal wouldn't give. Exhausted and injured, her fate was sealed at the hands of the SOLDIER. She was completely disoriented and her clouded thoughts accepted the inevitable: she had been captured. Her body came to accept this fact as well and she collapsed to the ground. The last conscious thought she could muster was that she had failed Avalanche, and prayed for the safe escape of the others.

Triumphant, Zack sheathed his sword upon his back and scooped up his prisoner. As he walked casually through the alley toward the main ShinRa Headquarters, he looked over the girl. She looked to be about his age, perhaps a little younger, with the body of a fighter. Her wrists were unadorned, as were her fighting gloves, meaning she had no concept of the materia system. "A bit unfair of me," he mused, thinking that using silence on her might have been a bit of overkill. As he neared the main gate, he shifted her body so that she hung limply over his shoulder. A swipe of his card key and Zack sauntered through the workers' gate, carrying what had to have been the most attractive prisoner they had ever detained in the massive facility. The other guards and workers gawked at the site: one of the top ranked SOLDIER officials bringing in a young unconscious girl. There was a flood of whispers pouring along the hallways as the news of the new detainee spread throughout the lower ranks of the company. Zack had captured one of the terrorists, and she had turned out to be a young girl. The new discussion around the locker rooms that night was the fate of this new one, especially at the hands of Zack...

...of course, he had performed his duty and taken her directly to the prison level where she was left to be searched and secured in a cell.

He made his way back toward the class A SOLDIER barracks, mind still on their battle and the slight throb in his left shoulder. Suddenly, he walked straight into a short, blonde trainee running in the opposite direction. The other man stood quickly and offered a hand to his superior to help him up. Zack brushed off the assistance and stood on his own, mumbling an apology and continuing on his way. The trainee spoke, "Is it true? You captured one of those terrorists and it turned out to be a teenage girl?"

The fog on his mind lifted and Zack looked up toward the harsh halogen lighting above them, "Yeah, it was another one of those groups trying to corrupt the reactors. She was the only one we got." Before the trainee could ask any further questions, Zack ran his card key through the reader on the wall and stepped into the main SOLDIER quarters. He walked through the halls toward his room and entered, his body moving sluggishly as he finally collapsed on the bed. Sitting up slightly, he removed his black shirt and fell back on the bed, massaging the injured shoulder. A slight purple-blue bruise was already forming from the pair of hits he had taken from her. The bracelet on his arm glinted slightly in the darkness as one of the green marbles glowed a bit brighter. Placing his palm on his shoulder, he closed his eyes and focused his energy into healing the pain. The cure spell worked instantly and he allowed sleep to overcome him. Before giving in totally to fatigue, he muttered a mental plea that the girl wouldn't be further harmed by the rambunctious guards in the prison.  
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To be continued in Chapter 3 - Door Prize 


	3. Door Prize

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, the settings, or characters depicted within this work of fiction. I make no money off it whatsoever.

Notes: This was actually written prior to the bulk of chapter two. Since I was stuck on the fight and I knew where I wanted her capture to eventually lead, I was able to write this part out rather easily.

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Chapter 3 - Door Prize

When she came to, Tifa was greeted to a room of darkness. Whatever the SOLDIER had done left her sight impaired by what felt like a thick cloud of vapor. Upon checking herself, she found her hands to be bound tightly before her with thick metal cuffs. Her radio link to the others had been taken, along with her gloves and the potion she had hidden in her back pocket. Fumbling around, she could feel a mattress beneath her and a cold metal wall to her left. At least she wasn't in immediate danger, she thought, as she sighed and lay back down on what she imagined to be a prison cell cot. Time seemed to creep by in slow motion, but that didn't matter to her now since she had no clue how long she was knocked out or how long she had been in there. Finally, Tifa heard voices nearby as if coming through a door and she strained to her what was being said. She identified the voices as two males, the more distant one seeming slightly familiar to her as they got closer and closer to her room.

"This is her cell, no need to worry about safety, we've got her cuffed and unarmed," the unfamiliar voice said.

"I bet you guys didn't mind searching this one, huh?" the other voice chuckled as she heard the confirming beep of a card key reader near what Tifa imagined was the entrance to her cell.

The other man, most likely a guard, laughed along with him, "Believe me, we were VERY thorough with her!" Another perverse laugh, a heavy door being opened, footsteps, and the slamming of said door let Tifa know she was no longer the only person in the room.

"Well, guess you weren't as tough as you thought, right miss?" the voice chuckled.

"It's you, isn't it? The SOLDIER from the alley." Tifa questioned, finally identifying the voice.

"The name's Zack," he answered as she heard the scraping sound of a chair being dragged across the floor.

"What did you do to me, why can't I see? And where am I?"

"ShinRa Headquarters Containment Cell #46...and all I did was use a vial of Ink and bit of materia. The Silence has worn off, but it looks like the Darkness I inflicted with the Ink will take a bit longer," he commented, playfully waving his hand before her non-receptive eyes. She scowled at him, her ears picking up his movement before her face, and he grinned. "Hey, you're even cuter when you're mad!"

Tifa turned from the sound of his voice to what she figured was the wall, "I don't need your company, just leave." The chair scraped against the floor once again and the thud of Zack's boots was heard as they hit the ground.

"Well, if you're going to be unfriendly, than I will. That Ink should wear off before the morning, so sleep well, babe." He gave her now exposed backside an appreciative pat as he walked off, causing Tifa's face to flush in anger.

"You bastard!" she screamed after him, "You're just going to leave me here?!" The screaming bounced off the cell walls and down the hallways where it eventually faded as Zack walked on, an indignant smirk on his face as her curses died on his ears.

The next morning, Tifa awoke to full sight and a meager plate of prison rations next to her cot. Still weary from her battle the previous night, she ate quickly and then got to work examining her surroundings. A standard issue army cot, small metal table, and a metal chair were all the furniture provided to her. A toilet and sink stood in one corner and her only light came from a harsh fluorescent bulb overhead. The door was steel with a few slots cut into it for an observation window, an unnecessary feature given the security camera mounted in the upper corner of the room. Her only exit was about 6 inches thick of solid steel, nothing that could be undone by her efforts alone. Tifa sat back down on the cot and accepted her fate; ShinRa had succeeded in capturing and detaining her. The communication link to the rest of the team had been taken and they no doubt used it to locate and capture Barret and the others. She prayed that they had escaped somehow, but knowing them, they were too preoccupied with their respective duties to have seen more guards approaching. As she peered out of the slots in her door, she tried to detect any motion in the adjacent cells, but there was nothing but darkness to be seen within them. Suddenly, a semi-familiar face popped up before her door, "Looking for me, beautiful?" Tifa scowled and stepped back as Zack swiped his card key and allowed himself entry into her cell.

"What do you want?" she snapped, sitting back down on her cot and drawing her knees to her chest.

He grinned and straddled the chair opposite her, "Just to spend a little more time with you, now that you're a little more alert than last night. I admit, that was a pretty cheap trick, but it was sort of cute to see you groping about blindly there...kinky too, I might add."

She shot a glare at him, "If you're trying to make me feel better about getting captured, you can start by shutting up, pervert." He laughed and suddenly stood up, pushed Tifa back, and planted his arms on either side of her shoulders, pinning her to the wall.

"You need to realize that you're in no place to insult me. I have the power to let you out of here scot-free. Or, I have the power to keep you here for 5 years on the charge of attempted entry into restricted areas. The choice is yours; I'll be back later tonight with more information on what you need to do. Until then," he leaned in and kissed her softly, "something to think on." With that, Zack stood and swiped his card again, walking out without looking back as the door closed behind him.

Tifa sat, paralyzed with shock at what he just did. She snapped out of it and wiped her lips off with the back of her hand. What was that about? He was giving her a chance to get out, but what kind of terms was he going to give her? And what did she need to do to ensure her escape? That night would bring the answers, but now it had turned into a waiting game. As the minutes ticked by slowly, Tifa attempted to amuse herself with some basic exercises to uncramp her still aching muscles. This activity was short lived, however, as she could have sworn she could hear the security camera zooming in every time she bent over or did a sit-up. "This entire company is full of perverts..." she mumbled, jabbing at the air a few times to loosen her shoulders.

Night came, or what Tifa figured must have been night since the normal clamor outside had died down to a dull roar. She lay on her small cot staring up at the ceiling, arms stretched behind her head. What did Zack want from her? Another fight, perhaps...another chance to humiliate her at the expense of her comrades. She was certain that without her, they had been captured as well, and Zack was more than likely all too willing to connect her cooperation with their safety. Whatever he had in mind, she was determined to follow it or die trying, if only to save the others.

Heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway outside her cell. Voices, one presumably from the night guard, the other unmistakably Zack's. She couldn't catch the details, but a sudden scuffle followed by the sound of a body dropping to the floor and the footsteps coming closer let Tifa know that Zack wasn't playing by ShinRa rules. She closed her eyes and waited as she heard the door to her cell slide open and allow him entrance. The familiar sound of the chair scraping across the floor was heard as Zack sat next to her. Eyes still shut, she spoke toward the ceiling, "So, tell me what I need to do to get me and my team 'out of here scot-free'." She mumbled, toying with his previous words.

Zack just sat there and chuckled a bit, folding his arms across his chest, "My, but you're the determined one...and pretty naive, too. You think the others got caught? No way, once they saw you went down, they got the hell out of there. You're the only one here, babe...which works out just fine in my book." He edged closer to her, causing Tifa to jolt up and face him.

"You're lying! They wouldn't leave me like this!"

Laughter again, "You're pretty trusting of them, huh? Well, suit yourself...right now I'm only offering you two choices. Save yourself, or sit here...either way, I'll get what I want."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Fine, tell me what you want and I'll consider it."

He grinned at her, "All I want is a night with you, baby, that's all. One night with you all to myself," he paused and looked around the room before turning his smirking face back toward her, "doesn't look like I'll have much of a problem getting that, now will I"  
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To be continued in Chapter 4 - A Not-so-modest Proposal 


	4. A Not So Modest Proposal

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, the settings, or characters depicted within this work of fiction. I make no money off it whatsoever.

Chapter 4 - A Not-so-modest Proposal

"You're asking me for a date in exchange for my freedom? Now that's professional of you," she muttered sarcastically.

Zack smirked back at her; "I never said anything about being professional, now did I?" Every rational thought in her mind told her to decline the offer, prison couldn't be that bad, and Barret was surely working on a plan to break her out of there any minute. But the truth struck her suddenly, her team had abandoned her, the weak link was captured. They had no use for her; she was apparently only a burden to them. She looked Zack over once more as she weighed her options. He was a bit taller than her with a body fitting of a top rank SOLDIER, mako green eyes shone out beneath the black strands of hair that hung before them. All in all, he at least looked decent on the outside, but it was what kind of thoughts he had hidden beneath that exterior that worried Tifa. Finally, after the debate had ended in her head, she stood up from the cot and stretched her arms over her head.

"I accept...but you better not try anything funny, I won't let myself get caught off guard again."

Zack stood up before her, "What am I gonna do? Move you to a more decorative cell?" he chuckled a bit and pulled the handcuffs from his back pocket, grabbing her outstretched arms and securing them together above her head.

She brought her arms down and tugged at the restraints, "Handcuffs...now that's a great touch for a first date..." she mumbled under her breath. He ignored the comment and opened the door, dragging her past the unconscious guard he had knocked out earlier. As they went to access the elevators to the other levels, the main clearance guard stopped them.

"Where are you taking this prisoner?" he demanded, one hand on his radio.

Zack brushed the guard off with a wave of his hand, "The President wanted to see her, don't worry about it."

As they wove through the dim, twisted corridors past numerous doors leading to rooms containing god-knows-what, Tifa struggled to keep up as she questioned about their destination. "Hey, you're getting a tour that only SOLDIER members are normally privileged to go on...you're a lucky girl" he retorted, swiping his card key at another door to grant them access into the hallway beyond. The corridor contained countless rows of doors, each identical to the next save the number engraved on the front. Zack stepped up to one and swiped his card, allowing the panel to slide open and reveal a room slightly larger than her prison cell and about as adequately furnished as well. With a gentle nudge he motioned her into the room as the door slid shut behind them, an affirmative beep sounding that it was locked.

She stood in the middle of the room as he walked past her, stopping for a second to release the handcuffs and toss them upon the bed as he leaned against the wall. She rubbed her wrists where the metal had dug in and glanced up at him to find his eyes making an appreciative study of her figure, a slightly feral grin upon his face. "So what do you want from me? Just quit the games and let me know where this little charade is leading. The sooner you're satisfied, the sooner I can leave, right?" He chuckled a bit, straightening up and walking around behind her to slip his arms around her shoulders in an attempt to relax her. She shuddered at his touch and backed away, "I should have guessed..."

Tifa's expression turned distressed, almost as if she was in pain. Zack picked up on this and backed off a little, giving her a genuine smile. "Hey, I'm not that bad of a guy...if it'll make you feel better, I'll sneak you out for dinner and a movie first?" Her arms crossed over her chest as her palms gripped her shoulders, eyes shut in concentration. In her mind, Tifa was silently closing herself off from what was going to happen. She wanted to block it all from her mind; it was a temporary inconvenience to allow her to escape back to AVALANCHE.

It was then that the doubts set in. Would they accept her back after that failure, and would she want to be accepted back into a group that had left her to rot in a ShinRa prison? Finally, she answered him with closed eyes and a blank face, "Just...get it over with...if it'll get me out of here." His expression went from concerned to predatory as he moved in closer, bringing his hand up to her chin and tilting her mouth towards hers in a light kiss. Her lips pursed at the touch as she forced her body to ignore the feelings and remain cold. His free arm wrapped around her waist as he drew her in closer, moaning slightly as he nuzzled against her neck. The hand snaked its way to her stomach, fingers trailing lightly around her navel before dipping into the waistband of her skirt. Tifa soon found herself being slowly manuvered toward the bed where Zack would seal his end of the deal.

In the course of the events that night, Zack proved not only skilled on the battlefield, but skilled in the bed as well. Through her initial protests, she attempted to keep impassive to all the amazing minstrations he lavished upon her body. Tifa soon found herself submitting willfully to his touch, unable to even hate herself in the heat of the moment. But when their carnal desires were sated, Tifa slipped away and crouched against the wall at the foot of the bed. Zack sensed the change in her emotions and turned to face her, propping himself up on one elbow. Her eyes caught his, showing the mixture of embarrassment and despair hidden within their depths. He chuckled a bit, "So, looks like you ended up with a win/win situation after all, eh?"

She cringed slightly and turned her back to him, "Don't mock me," she sneered.

He laughed slightly before turning his back to her side with a grin, "I'll help you out in the morning...I'm sure you need some sleep now though. Goodnight Tifa." She turned back toward him to give another flippant remark, but suddenly something registered in her mind. Tifa. Her name...she had never given him her name, so how did he know it? Jesse had given them all fake ID cards, complete with false names, so there was no way that he could've run a check on her. Her mind ran itself to exhaustion as she pondered over just how much he knew about her. As sleep claimed her as well, the last thing she saw was a pale scar running along his side. SOLDIERs apparently had some battles they just couldn't forget about after all.  
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To be continued in Chapter 5 - Hey Bartender 


	5. Hey Bartender

Story Notes: Imagine a 3 year and 21 day gap between the last chapter and now. There, now you've experienced this fic in its reality, lol. Yes, I posted chapter 4 on March 4th of 2004 and am writing chapter 5 on March 25 of 2007. Time flies. I will only say one thing in my defence and that is that I started college in fall of 2004. Take that as you will. On with the show!

Writing Notes: Another reason I was lax to update was that I started a few new projects on aff.n and have been concentrating on writing for that site more than this one, partially because there's way less restriction, and partially because there's an overall better quality of writing there. So if you truly enjoy my work, and don't mind a little adult content, head over there to see more (and that's where the most recent updates always get posted first!)

Chapter 5 - Hey Bartender ------------------------

The past month had probably been one of the most awkward months of Tifa's life. She had suddenly returned to Seventh Heaven unscathed, refused to divulge the full extent of her time spent in the ShinRa detention facilities, and wouldn't speak of the terms of her release. Biggs and Wedge chalked it up to women and left well enough alone, but Jesse and Barret, who had become like siblings to Tifa since they all banded together, were less than passive about her half-assed story. For days Barret questioned her, first angry that she wouldn't give him any new information about the ShinRa operations, or even about her interactions with their personnel. As the days wore on, and he noticed her evasiveness, as well as her aloof attitude toward the whole crew, he became more worried that something serious had happened to the young martial artist, and tried to talk it out of her with a more concerned slant to his questioning.

None of it worked on Tifa, however, as she had already hardened her heart to her circle of friends. No friends would abandon their own like they had with her. Just as Zack had predicted, they had all escaped unharmed when they found the communication link to Tifa had been broken. The mission was aborted and they all returned safely, where Barret swore they had been formulating a rescue plan until Tifa had turned up, apparently her own savior. The story didn't sit well, especially since it had first came from the lips of the enemy...the very lips that had done such wicked things to her during the 'negotiations' of her release.

She remained a member of AVALANCHE in name only for the time being. The underground rooms were still home base for planning and recon, but she refused to take further active roles, citing that she needed a break after being involved as she was during the last mission. Things were tense in the small bar, Tifa kept mostly above ground, tending to the actual business, which brought in all the more customers now that she was a regular bartender again. The rest of the crew kept mostly below, planning, building, hacking, and whatever else they needed to do as they furthered their plans of overthrowing the ShinRa Corporation.

It was a late night on a Wednesday when Tifa found herself alone in the bar doing cleanup. While Jesse or Wedge usually helped her with the night breakdown, they were out with Barrett on a recon mission while Biggs was oddly enough out on a date. Marlene was off at a friend's house sleeping over, which left all the dishes, mopping, and inventory to Tifa. Lucky for her, Wednesday nights were usually pretty dead, and getting the last call group to shuffle out of the doors at 2AM proved to be easier with a threatening glare and the brandish of her citrus knife from behind the counter.

Her back was to the door as she dried dishes, the only sound came from the clanking of glasses as they were placed back in their racks, and the quiet hum of the refrigeration systems. The near silence was suddenly punctuated by an annoying squeak as one of the bar stools became occupied. Tifa whirled around in time to see a hand snake over the top of the counter, gripping the nearest bottle and bringing it up to be examined. The hood of the person's jacket hid their face as they replaced the bottle and grabbed another. Apparently satisfied with the bourbon in their hand, the figure drank deeply from the bottle before setting it down roughly on the counter and letting out a contented grunt. "Top grade stuff you've got here. By the way, the front door was locked, had to find another way in." The hooded figure jerked its head toward the back window, which had been expertly pried open but unbroken in the process, allowing them to slip in quietly and take her by surprise.

She let the towel in her hands drop to the floor with a wet slap. From beneath the hood she could see the same cock-sure grin from a month ago, along with the matching mako-green eyes. Tifa stalked over and tugged the hood off his head, revealing that same spiky black hair from that fateful night. The same hair she had ended up fisting in pleasure rather than in the rage she should have been harboring. Their eyes met for a second, his teasing, hers confused and slightly scared. Suddenly, her anger came flooding back from that night, the anger of the humiliation, the submission, and mostly anger at how she had actually come to ENJOY it at the end. She grabbed the bottle and shoved it back under the counter. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, hand already reaching for the citrus knife.

Before she could pick the blade up, Zack slid his right arm around her shoulders, pulling her hand away from the knife. "Aww, why to see you of course! Haven't you missed me? I've been away on assignment and I haven't had the chance to come visit since our last...encounter," he smirked at the words and leaned his free hand back down under the counter to take possession of his bottle again.

Her hands reacted quickly, the free one slapping his arm off of hers and the other picking up the knife, slamming it down into the counter between his chest and the bottle he was drawing near to him. Stopped in mid-motion, Zack allowed the bourbon to rest back on the counter as he looked at her grip on the handle, knuckles turning white in frustration.

"Just back here to humiliate me, are you? I thought I was rid of you after you forced me to submit last time." She cracked the knuckles on her free hand, "This time we're on equal footing. You may have your fancy ShinRa technology, but we're on my turf and you're not taking me by surprise this time. So state your business and leave...and I'll make you do so by force if I have to."

He laughed a little in nervous shock, "Hey babe, I didn't come to pick another fight with you. I just came to see you on more friendly terms. I know we got off on a bad foot, so I wanted to come by and see you in a less hostile environment, see if maybe we can talk some things out...although with your little knife trick here, I don't think I'll be getting the less hostile, will I?"

She took a swing at him from behind the counter, but he tilted back, avoiding it easily, but also tipping his stool over in the process. As he sprawled to the floor, Tifa took this as an opportunity to jump up on the counter and come down at him with a heel aimed as his shoulder she had injured during their first encounter. He rolled to the side and swept his leg out low, intending to catch her ankles but catching the adjacent stool as well. Tifa leapt out of the way of the oncoming stool, which allowed Zack time to get up and regain his footing. 

"Ugh, do you always have to listen with your fists?! I just wanna talk!" he yelled as the bottle he had been drinking from earlier was tossed at his head, sending bourbon and glass splattering all over the wall. He jumped forward, catching one of her wrists in his grasp, but she whirled around and struck him sharply in the jaw. He recoiled back from the hit and unstrapped his sword, swinging it around and intending on stopping it inches from her neck. Tifa, however, had other plans and swung down to avoid it, planting her palms on the hardwood floor and swiping her leg out toward his ankles, knocking him off balance and causing the sword to clatter to the ground.

Zack caught himself bent over backward on his palms and flipped his legs up over him to land in a crouching position. As she shifted her weight back onto her legs and went to stand, he held out an opened hand as the materia on his bracelet began to glow. An ethereal face of a clock appeared between them, the hands spinning wildly until they suddenly came to a halt. At that same moment, Tifa froze in her movement, still crouched on the ground, still as a stone statue. He sighed, standing up and repositioning himself at a bar stool. 

"Well, now that you're stuck there for, oh five minutes, perhaps you could listen then?" She was rendered motionless to the ground, her gold-amber eyes glaring up at him in frustration. "Oh good," he chuckled, "I thought you might. Stop me if you've heard this one...but there's this cute little tale about a young village guide and a recently promoted SOLDIER..."

The story he told was all too familiar to Tifa's ears, with one fundamental difference. As Zack reiterated the fateful events of the day of the attack on the Mt. Nibel reactor, there was a new character added to the story, and a very major player omitted. His version told the same story as the one in her memory, except in the place of her savior and childhood friend, Cloud, there stood Zack, the proud hero of Nibelheim who saved her from Sephiroth as she blacked out from the sword wound he had inflicted upon her.

As the tale neared its end, Tifa's muscles seemed to start to untense slowly and she could tell the materia-induced stiffness was starting to wear off. Her scowl remained in place, as to not let him know she was soon to be mobile again until she was sure her limbs would react. As he finished his explanation, she finally spoke, "You expect me to believe that some random SOLDIER like you saved me in place of my childhood friend? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not that easy to bullshit." She launched herself at him once more, knocking him off the bar stool and on to his back, pinning him to the ground as she straddled his hips, wrapping her hands around his throat in anticipation of choking away his consciousness.

"Well I know it's kind of hard to swal---urk!" His voice was cut off as her hands closed off his airway, cutting off whatever smartass remark was to roll off his tongue next. Her expression showed confusion and anger as she stared down into his eyes which stayed locked onto hers in concentration. The materia on his bracelet glowed a light green as he activated his Exit materia. The braceleted arm gripped her wrists as Zack cast the Remove spell on her. Suddenly, an invisible force released Tifa's hands from his wrists and sent her body floating up off of his, releasing her hold and rendering her immobile long enough for him to get back on his feet. Zack lunged forward, snatching his sword back up off the floor and jumping onto a nearby table. 

Her boots barely scraped against the floor as she fought the unnatural force holding her back until she could regain her footing. Having stopped expecting anything normal from her encounters with this particular SOLDIER, she ignored the odd sensations induced by the materia-assisted removal and held her arms up in a defensive pose. With the sword back in his hands, she anticipated a frontal blow that would be easily blocked with her mythril armguards.

Zack chuckled, "Still as feisty as ever from our last fight, hm? You know if you weren't so pigheaded all the time, we wouldn't have to go through you landing on your back at the end of every encounter...and you can read into that however you like." His lips curved into an innocent smile as his boot hooked into one of the chairs next to the table. He swung his foot upward, causing it to fly in her direction. Tifa dodged the projectile easily, having expected some sort of frontal attack, but failed to anticipate the burst of flames that shot forth from his outstretched arm. 

He jumped to the next table, the old wood creaking under his weight as he let off another jet of flames just near enough to singe her hair a bit. He wasn't aiming to scorch her at all, merely maneuvering her in the directions he wanted her to go. Tifa skidded to the side to avoid another column of flame when she caught the side of the bar with her hip. She slumped over it momentarily, sucking in a breath through gritted teeth and praying she hadn't broken any ribs when another spurt of flames licked through the air toward her. She rolled to the side and the fire caught on the alcohol-soaked wood, starting a small section of the counter ablaze.

"Are you trying to kill us both by burning my bar down?!" she yelled, sending one fist toward his abdomen as the other hand grabbed for the materia bracelet. 

"Well maybe if you see that I'm willing to risk both of us for you to know the truth, you might listen for once...see if I leave you a tip!" He blocked the punch easily by flipping the sword up into a defensive position across his chest. The force of the blow caused the sword to vibrate, distracting him as his materia bracelet was snatched off. He cursed under his breath, turning the sword to the flat edge and using it to shove her back into a wall.

Tifa flipped back with the momentum from the sword, the materia bracelet flying from her hand and landing across the room. She planted her feet at the base of the wall and halted her movement, standing upright and raising her fists to guard as she analyzed the situation. "The only risk here is you burning us alive! You have a sick way of picking up girls...lying and arson won't get you anywhere." Her taunt finished, she ran toward him once more, sliding to his side with her other leg aimed for the same knee she had injured in their first battle, praying it still showed some signs of weakness.

The kick managed to knock his leg out from under him, but not do any real damage as he caught his fall with the palms of his hands and slammed his feet back on the surface. The force of his landing caused two of the legs to give out, slanting the top forward and Zack with it. He rolled off, jumping toward the bar and landing on the edge of the small fire which was still smoldering. Having stopped his movement successfully and regained control, he stood and twirled his sword around in mock fanfare, giving her a triumphant pose. His victory stance turned into a flailing of arms and legs as the damaged bar top gave way under his weight, sending his body crashing down through the bar and the flooring below it.

She looked down into the hole that had suddenly appeared in the middle of her bar and let out an exasperated sigh. Jumping down into the room below, Tifa landed next to their conference table and studied the pile of smoldering wood and SOLDIER that laid upon it.

"Get a softer table..." he mumbled, pushing the splintered boards off his body. He eyed her cautiously before rolling off, taking a moment to shake the dust and soot from his hair as he studied where he had landed. The planning room they were standing in was covered in maps of Midgar, reactor blueprints, and other strategy posters. A dusty computer stood in one corner with a shabby couch lining the opposite wall. The conference table stood in the midst of it all, now covered in pieces of the bar above, but Zack ignored all of it as he came to study a small framed picture sitting near the computer. 

He picked it up and grinned appreciatively, "Hey now, why isn't this your standard bartender uniform, huh? You'd get even better tips if you served me a drink dressed like THAT!" He held up the photo in question, which was taken during a beach trip a few years ago. Tifa was sporting a tight yellow bikini and leaning over slightly as she helped Marlene and Wedge with a sand castle, innocent enough unless viewed by someone like Zack.

Stalking over, she snatched the picture frame from his hands and slammed it down on the table, then grabbed his shirt in his hands and jerked him forward. "You come in here wanting me to LISTEN to your asinine stories and end up trashing my bar, nearly burning us alive, and now creating a hole in my floor. Your little smart-ass remarks and lies are really getting on my nerves."

Not letting the grin falter for a second, he swept her feet out from under her, causing them both to land on the couch. "I told you that I came here to tell you the truth about how we know each other." She landed on his lap with a startled gasp, then wiggled off onto the couch next to him. He leaned back and placed his arms behind his head, "Now that we're more comfortable, and out of mortal danger, maybe you'll listen this time, hm?"

Letting it all sink in for a moment, Tifa rationalized that she was seated next to a class A SOLDIER who had just survived a lengthy fist-fight and fell through a flaming bartop with barely a scratch. This was a man that she was never going to win against in a one-on-one, even with his materia advantage removed. Declaring a silent defeat, she folded her arms over her chest and tucked her legs to her side, scowling at him defiantly. "Fine, you get one more chance to convince me why I shouldn't just call the Midgar police and get your ass thrown out of here."

His tale was told once more, in more detail than before. He was spot-on about everything from that day Tifa had guided two SOLDIERs and a guard up Mt. Nibel, except for one major flaw: the replacement of Cloud with Zack. It was impossible in her mind; who else from ShinRa would come and request her as their guide?

Smirking, she responded, "So again, you're telling me that my memories of that day were really of you saving me, and that I'm delusional and in denial, remembering Cloud instead? And yet you have NO proof..." In her head, she was triumphantly jumping up and down, having challenged him to provide something she knew he couldn't have. Her inner celebration was cut short as he fished his wallet out from his pocket and produced a picture, which he handed over.

She looked down at the worn paper and saw her very image of two years ago staring back at her. To her left stood Sephiroth, the monster who had turned a simple trek up the mountain into a fiery bloodbath that nearly destroyed Tifa's life. To her right, stood the very man now seated next to her, instead of her familiar blonde friend. Zack could see her confusion and knew he had hit her right this time. Having set up the first visual, he prepared for the knockout. "If you want some REAL tangible proof, you're gonna have to check my right side, but be gentile, will ya?"

Tifa quirked an eyebrow at him before leaning over and slowly lifting the side of his shirt to expose a long white scar running along his side. Her other hand immediately flew to her own torso which bared a matching mark, no doubt from the very same sword wielded by the silver-haired maniac that had turned their lives upside-down that day. Zack pulled his shirt back down and ran his hands through his hair, sighing in exhaustion and slight frustration. "Told you. Now do you believe me?"

Confusion had set in and despair was soon to follow as she clutched the photograph in her hands. Two years after that incident had been spent believing that Cloud was her knight in shining armor, having single handedly saved her and drove off Sephiroth. Suddenly, all that nostalgia and hope was crushed with a simple image and a pair of scars. The tears stung at her eyes but she blinked them back. The hurt was painted across her face and Zack's expression softened.

"Look, I didn't come here to anger you...I just wanted to see you again, let you know the truth. It was all in the past, Sephiroth's been missing for years, and we're both still alive. So it didn't turn out as bad as it could have, right?"

She glared up at him, "My father died that night, my home village was nearly destroyed, and I almost lost my life...and it didn't turn out that bad?! You come here and make me remember all this, take away the one comforting thought, that Cloud had fulfilled his promise to save me, and you expect me not to be angry!? I've spent two years falling further in love with the man I thought rescued me, and now I come to find out it's a stranger who forced me into bed with him!" The fury seemed to radiate off her in waves, rendering her even unable to strike back at him. Before she could react any further, he turned toward her and leaded in, planting an arm on either side of her head against the couch arm and boxing her in.

"I gave you a CHOICE. I would never force a lady into my bed. We both got what we wanted and we agreed to the terms, and from what I remember you LIKED it. Now's the time for you to stop living in false hope and look at what kind of life you're living here. I don't think that 15-year-old girl I met that day ever had dreams of being an eco-terrorist running a bar as her cover." His voice had taken on a serious, fearful tone as he tried to bring her back to rational thought. Their matching glares were inches from each other, neither one breaking their resolve, until suddenly something in Tifa's mind snapped.

All the memories, the denial she had lived in for years, the hope and the pain, the longing for her promise...it all got thrown around in her head like a tornado. Her rational thought was gone, her world upside down, and with no control over her own jumbled thoughts, she did the only clear thing standing out in her mind: she leaned in and kissed him.  
-  
To be continued in Chapter 6 - Feel the Frustration 


	6. Feel the Frustration

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, the settings, or characters depicted within this work of fiction. I make no money off it whatsoever. 

Chapter 6 – Feel the Frustration

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A pile of charred wood resting on the conference table to her right, a hole in her ceiling, broken glass and tables littering the bar above…and there she was, sprawled out on the couch in the AVALANCHE base making out with a SOLDIER she had been trying to forcibly remove from her establishment just moments before.

At first, Zack had been a bit shocked at her brazen approach; seconds earlier she was ready to snap his head off, and now she was running her hands up through his hair, pulling him down closer and nipping lightly at his lips as she demanded entrance into his mouth. Normally, SOLDIERs were taught to resist all forms of seduction when working with the enemy, and had this been any normal enemy Zack would have complied with that order completely. However, it was unheard of to have an enemy this hot and willing laid out beneath you. So, Zack forgot altogether what roles they played in this whole SOLDIER/terrorist game and returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm.

The rest of the evening was spent in a euphoric haze of lust and release from their pent-up frustration. From the couch to the table and finally ending up on the floor, their earlier scuffle turned into a battle of a whole new type. Finally satisfied, Zack slipped his arms around her waist, coaxing her back toward the couch. He flopped down and pulled a boneless Tifa down on top of him, sliding her body into the crook of his arm between his side and the couch back. They lay like that for what seemed like hours, too exhausted to speak at first until Tifa finally made the first move.

"That was…" she mumbled, still trying to clear the post-coital haze from her mind.

"Wonderful, amazing, mind-blowing…yeah, I've heard them all before. I agree." Zack snickered, running his hand through her hair.

Her head rested on his chest for a moment longer, listening to the slowing beat of his heart when suddenly, Tifa snapped up. "Oh shit…"

Zack tilted his head to the side and looked up at her in confusion. "Barret and the others are gonna come back and freak out. How am I going to explain this giant hole in the ceiling…er, floor…" she cursed and jumped off the couch, recovering her strewn clothing and dressing as quickly as she could. He propped himself on an elbow and watched her sudden turn of emotion with an amused smirk.

"Why not just tell them the truth? A ShinRa SOLDIER came in, trashed the place, but you beat him," he mumbled, stifling a yawn as he stretched out on the couch.

"Because if I tell them a member of SOLDIER is still stalking me, I'm going to become a liability. Plus I didn't exactly beat you…" she trailed off as she began discarding the charred ceiling chunks into a nearby garbage bin.

He chuckled, "I don't think I could gather the strength to take on a ten-year-old right now, let alone you…mmm, that was wild. I'd say you won this time."

A glare in his direction was enough to rouse that missing strength into his limbs, allowing him to hoist himself from the couch, put his boxers and pants back on, and assist her with the downstairs cleanup. As they worked, Tifa began trying to devise a good excuse for the damaged conditions her bar and their headquarters were now in.

"Remember, I said I'd help fix all this, y'know." Zack offered, sweeping up the last of the soot from the burnt wood.

"And just how do I explain to them that I talked the enemy into helping me repair the bar?" she questioned.

"Tell them the truth. He was sorry at first for causing the mess, and was even more eager to stick around and help her out after the great lay thereafter…" he snickered, barely avoiding the punch she sent toward his shoulder.

"Barret and the others can't know about this…I'll get them to move to another safe house while we repair this place. I'll think of some kind of excuse…but right now, you need to get out of here. They could come back any time, and the last thing I need now is to have to explain this whole mess."

Zack nodded and sat back down, lacing up his boots and pulling his shirt on before standing once more. Leaning in, he kissed her softly, "I'll be back in two days to help fix things. Get things settled with them while I'm gone. And don't miss me too much." He winked and pinched her rear playfully as he walked over to the lift under the pinball machine and took it to the floor above. Tifa flopped down on the couch and held her head in her hands in exasperation as she heard the sound of his sword being lifted from the ground and the back door slamming shut shortly thereafter.

Returning to the top level to clean up the broken glass, Tifa noticed his materia bracelet lying forgotten in the corner of the room. She picked it up and examined it, each small marble glowing dimly with its own light. Four green and a yellow…each having some sort of significance unknown to her. She clipped it onto her own wrist and continued cleaning, figuring she would give it back when he returned. It was then that she realized she had just accepted a SOLDIER into her life, and that alone was going to cause some big problems with her current side-profession, as well as the closest thing she had left to family. Her mind was already overloaded from that night with the various revelations and confusion, and having yet to recover from the previous issues, it merely filed this new problem in the "we'll deal with it when it arises" category and let her body continue on its cleaning journey.

Zack entered back into the barracks of ShinRa headquarters that night with an extra spring in his step. Not only had he been able to finally get back in contact with the brunette vixen that had captivated him back in Nibelheim, but somehow he had managed to capture her attention as well. He did feel a little guilty at having to destroy her happy memories of her childhood infatuation, but not knowing the fate of her lost love as well, he figured it was better he convince her to live for what was there for her now, which was him at that point. Kicking his boots off and flopping down on his bed, he reached up to his wrist to activate his Cure materia and heal the few little scars and marks from their battle and the more fulfilling activities thereafter. However, his hand met skin where it should have met metal and he cursed when he remembered that the bracelet had been snatched away during their battle.

"All the more reason to visit her again anyway…" he chuckled, letting sleep claim him. The small circular bruises on his neck and the red scars down his torso were remnants of a battle he wouldn't mind keeping a few days longer.

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Telling the story of how there came to be a large hole in the middle of her bar counter was much easier when she did so in front of a mirror. Yet there Tifa stood, leaning against the splintered counter with a gaping hole in the floor to her right, the faint smell of charred wood still lingering in the air. Luckily it was a minor thing, and the presence of flame damage was overlooked. Her story was that during a delivery, a full keg was knocked over onto the bar and crashed through the flooring. The weakness was blamed on termites, as it was an old establishment, and to four of the five regulars who stood before her, the story seemed plausible enough to satisfy their curiosity. Marlene, Jesse, Biggs and Wedge were more than willing to take a 'vacation' to Kalm during the repairs. The rustic little town was full of interesting spots for distractions from their normal lives. Wedge was already dreaming of fishing in the forest lakes by the time Tifa had finished explaining. Barrett, however, was a different story. As the four rushed upstairs to start packing, he approached Tifa with an expression that said he knew something was up.

"There's somethin' y'ain't tellin' us..." Barret said, looking her straight in the eyes.

Somehow, she matched his serious expression, glancing up at his face to answer, "It's my bar, I can handle routine repairs like this myself. Having you all around is just going to cause too much trouble. It'll be fixed in two weeks, just move the operations to Kalm until then, how hard can it be?"

He sighed, turning away and heading toward the lift, "Fine fine, your reasons are your own. Jes' don't get yourself into more trouble, ok?"

Her expression soured toward his turned back. More trouble...as if he were referring to her capture from the last mission. Team relations had been a bit forced after the incident, and a vacation to Kalm as a group would have been the best idea to hopefully regain their lost cohesion, but there was no way she could trust her bar repairs to Zack alone. Tifa's subconscious chimed in that her ulterior motive was to get him alone again without fear of being caught, but as quickly as that naughty little thought entered her mind, she shoved it aside.

Just as promised, Zack arrived two days after the bar was damaged, supply truck loaded with wood, paint, and a variety of tools. If there was one thing she could say about his antics, he was certainly good about making up for their damage. Questions relating to just how he was able to swipe a ShinRa supply truck and the materials were left unanswered. Zack skirted most of the talk about just how he managed to get away with most of the things that he did.

While sanding down the newly attached portion of the bar counter, Tifa couldn't help but watch Zack as he hammered the replacement legs back into one of the tables he had broken. He worked hard and fast, but everything he did was complete perfection...much like he was in bed. She shook her head side to side to clear the dirty little voice from her mind, something that had been happening more recently since her involvement with the black-haired SOLDIER. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips and she reached back to pull her hair into a messy bun to keep it from getting in her way as she grabbed the small can of varnish that was sitting at her feet. Within minutes, the top of the bar was glistening with a drying coat of sealant that made the whole thing look like new. Pleased with her work, she set her tools down and grabbed a pair of glasses from behind the counter. Filling them with cold water, she headed over to where Zack was working to offer him a much needed break.

They had been working all morning and well into the afternoon, pausing only long enough for a short lunch and dinner break, and night had set in, marking the end of a full day of repairs. Even with the cool night air floating in through the open windows, Zack had removed his shirt and was working in the now moonlit front room. She handed the water to him and hopped up onto one of the newly repaired tables, "I can't believe the progress we made today..."

He grinned, gulping down the water and setting the glass on the table beside her, "I assume since you didn't fall flat on the floor after hopping up there, I did a good job, huh?"

She laughed, "I suppose I can give you that. Should have called you a few months ago when the back door needed replacing, too."

Zack took their playful banter as a cue that their work for the night was over and crawled on top of the table to sit cross-legged behind her, running his hands up her arms to start kneading at her shoulders. She tensed a bit at first, still on guard, but soon relaxed into the wonderful things his hands were doing to her sore muscles. It was a picture of contentment, and she soon realized that she hadn't felt this at ease in her own bar for quite some time since the ShinRa capture incident. Suddenly, she was reminded of her current situation and shook him loose from her shoulders. Zack quirked his head at her, confused as to why she suddenly pulled away, and she saw the confusion in his eyes as she turned to face him.

"We can't continue with this, us. If the others found out that I-"

"That you what?" he cut her off, "That you're boning a SOLDIER now?"

She cringed at his bluntness, but it was true. The others wouldn't take lightly to her even associating with a SOLDIER on a first name basis, let alone going to bed with one. He could see the wheels turning in her head with each new issue that their involvement brought up. His palms caught her shoulders, pulling her back into his embrace,

"I know what you're thinking. I don't want our positions in our professional lives to come into play with all this, either. I want us to be together as people, not as titles. Don't look at us as a SOLDIER and an AVALANCHE member, look at us for who we are: a man and a woman. You can't deny that there's something between us. I don't think there's any reason we should have to change what we do for the sake of this, for now we just need to go with it and take care of things as they arise, not worry about what COULD happen."

His carefree nature somehow spread into Tifa's subconscious, helping push aside all the doubts, anger, and fear their involvement had brought into her mind. As he worked his strong hands along her upper back, his lips came close to her ear,

"If you're that worried about your teammates finding out about us, come back to my room instead tonight..."

Goosebumps spread along her arms as she shivered from the hot breath against her neck and the deep hum of his voice.

"And just how am I supposed to get in there? I didn't exactly have much luck the last time."

He chuckled, running his hands down her arms and then wrapping them around her waist, his chin now resting on her shoulder as he kissed lightly at her neck.

"The security measures may be tight, but there's one class of guest that the guards always turn their heads for. Let's just say the low number of female SOLDIERs means that certain...shall we say, provisions, need to be made to keep the morale up."

Tifa considered his explanation for a minute before it sank in. "You want me to dress up like a hooker?!" She jumped off the table and turned to face him, the fire lighting up in her deep crimson eyes.

He grinned at her, "Look, just slip on something skimpy and hang all over me, no one will even notice. It's normal to see girls come and go with recruits at all hours of the night and morning."

Before Tifa could protest any further, Zack had stood from the table and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her up to the bedrooms on the second floor. He tipped her back toward the bed and opened her closet, searching through for something that was fitting for her newly assumed identity of a woman of the night. Shoulders deep in clothing, he let out a triumphant cheer as he pulled out probably the last outfit Tifa ever thought he would grab. Dangling from the hanger in his hands was her old high school uniform, white collared shirt, pleated skirt and all.

Her jaw nearly hit the floor, "Y-you want me to wear THAT?!"

"Well, everything else in here either screams 'martial artist' or 'barmaid', and not in the sexy way. I've seen plenty of women wearing this sort of thing on the job, it'll work perfectly." His reasoning was almost a bit too solid, as if he had a ton of experience in this area, and Tifa shot him an accusing glare. He swallowed hard and tossed the outfit on the bed, "Well, that's my recommendation...I'll, uh, be downstairs waiting in case you find something better..."

She waited until the door was shut before looking back down at her uniform on the bed. He did have one point, all her other clothing was mainly training gi, her mission uniforms which had already been captured on ShinRa surveillance, and baggy shirts and sweatpants for when she did serious cleaning. She hadn't the need for any sort of formal or sexy clothing, since her life as of late had been devoted to two things: Seventh Heaven and AVALANCHE. Slumping her shoulders in defeat, she rifled through her closet to find the matching black flats and knee-high stockings that completed the ensemble, cursing herself for keeping such an embarrassing piece of nostalgia.

Moments later, Tifa tiptoed down the stairs, flushing slightly as she tugged down the hem of the skirt. While the clothing hadn't changed at all in the years since it was retired to the back of her closet, her body had grown in all the right places, making the fit a bit absurd. Her further developed breasts strained at the buttons of the shirt, hidden only by the small black scarf that dangled between them. Her height had increased a few inches as well, causing the bottom to stop short a few inches above her waist, showing off an ample expanse of her torso. The skirt, which used to come to just above her knees, was now stopping short at mid-thigh and rode up with every move she made. The ensemble was complete with white stockings which came up to mid-calf, making her long, toned legs look even longer with the short skirt.

Zack's jaw was on the floor as he watched her decend the stairs and suddenly Tifa felt all too ridiculous in her current attire. Without a word he pulled his shirt back on, picked up his sword, and held his hand out for hers. They left the bar and locked up, taking to the back alleys to head toward ShinRa, avoiding as much of the late night traffic as they could, lest her attire draw any unwanted attention.

When they approached the gated outer yards of the ShinRa building, Zack slipped an arm around Tifa's waist, pulling her closer in a possessive gesture to alert the other men in the area that she was his for the night. However, his display of ownership didn't deter most of the guards and other recruits from ogling his companion. Appreciative studies of her body were being done at every checkpoint, and she could feel them undressing her with their eyes. Suddenly, Tifa felt like a piece of meat dangling over a pack of hungry wolves. Either Zack lied about most of the men bringing companions into the barracks, or this lot just couldn't afford it. Either way, she gripped onto his arm tighter, her other fist balling up as she restrained herself from sending it flying into the face of the next pervert that stared at her ass.

Finally, her walk of humiliation was over as the card key swept through the lock of Zack's room. She stepped in and examined her surroundings once more, vaguely remembering the last time she was there with a slight blush. Meanwhile, Zack had kicked his boots off into a corner and moved over to his desk, picking up his digital camera to snap a candid shot of her. She jumped at the flash and pouted at him, making a move to recover the camera. Another click and he laughed, "Now that was a cute one, think I'll make that the wallpaper on my computer later."

She glared at him and snatched the camera from his hands, going in to delete the images until she started to flip through them. The set taken before had been from their first meeting a few months prior, images of her sleeping almost peacefully in his bed. Tifa glanced up at him, smirking slightly, "I didn't know you were into voyeurism. Any other fetishes I should know about?"

The camera was rescued from her grip and slipped into the drawer below before he spun her around and leaned her against the edge of the desk, slipping his hand up the back of the skirt as he did so. "Didn't know when I'd get to see you like that again, so I wanted a memento. Plus I think you look cute when you sleep, but even cuter in this skirt..."

A streak of mischief slipped into Tifa's mind and she grabbed his wrist, pulling it away from her body so she could hop up to sit on the desk. She deliberately crossed her legs at the knees, letting the skirt ride up just enough to give a slight peek at the lace panties that hid underneath. Her arms were crossed under her chest, pushing her breasts up and tugging at the buttons even more. If he was going to play games, so would she.

"Well, TEACHER, now that you've got me to your office, what did you want to see me about, hm?" Her words were laced with a hint of sarcasm, but the face she looked up at him with showed pure innocence.

He quirked his eyebrows at her sudden change in mood, and his roving eyes swept down her body, grinning at the obvious display she was putting on. Zack placed his hands on the desk on either side of her hips and leaned in close, "Well, I think you're in need for an after-class lesson, since I've heard you can be a very bad girl at times, hm?"

The innocent look was replaced with a slightly feral grin as Tifa uncrossed her legs, folding her hands on her lap and sitting up straight like a model student. Her breasts shifted forward until they were almost touching his chest as she looked up straight into his eyes, "So what are you going to teach me?"

The lump in his throat returned as his mouth ran dry, but Zack regained his composure and continued with their little role-play. He could smell the faint hint of perfume on her neck, and her breasts were just shy of pressing against his chest, both stimulations adding to the growing hardness in his pants. He struggled to keep his cool as he answered her. "Well, that depends...what is the student eager to learn about?"

She couldn't help but take this little charade and run with it, seeing that it had obviously disrupted his usual cocky demeanor. Her finger traced up along his jaw as she leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "Whatever will get me an A in this class..." The statement was punctuated by a light squeeze to the bulge in his pants, "How about we start with an anatomy lesson?"

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To be continued in Chapter 7 - Love is a Battlefield


	7. Love is a Battlefield

Chapter 7 - Love is a Battlefield 

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Tifa stirred from sleep and unconsciously shifted closer to the other person in bed with her. Coming slowly out of the sleepy haze, she realized that she wasn't in her own room. Before the panic could set in, the other person in the bed turned to face her, strands of black hair tickling her nose as a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and realized she was in bed with Zack in the ShinRa barracks, only this time completely under her own free will.

She slowly removed his arm and wiggled out from under the covers, trying to extract herself from the bed without waking him. As she stood, the dull aches in her various muscles reminded her of the various 'exams' she took the night prior. After her 'mid-term' Zack had opted for a final about an hour later, and then in the early hours of the morning, decided she needed a re-test. If there was one thing you could say for ShinRa, they made sure their men had plenty of stamina.

Her uniform was strewn about in various directions: the shirt having been ripped halfway down the back was now dangling from his bedside lamp, her bra and skirt were crumpled on the floor, the zipper of the latter now broken from its track. Holding the ruined garments in her hands, she knew that was one little fantasy he wasn't going to be living out again any time soon. Luckily her undergarments had remained in one piece and she slipped them on to continue her search for something suitable to wear. Rifling through the closet produced a pair of his shorts which fit well enough after a few tugs to the drawstrings and a knot or two. She also located a clean undershirt, which hung low and baggy, but at least covered her up for her eventual exodus from the building.

Unaware that her wardrobe-related antics were being watched, Tifa finished pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She turned to find Zack propped up on an elbow, grinning sleepily as he watched her from the bed.

"Mornin' sunshine...nice outfit," he mumbled.

She smirked and tossed her crumpled skirt at his head. "Yeah, well it's your fault I can't wear any of my clothes. Guess you won't be getting your little schoolgirl fantasy again."

He laughed and tossed the skirt to the end of the bed before getting up to find some clothing of his own. His back was still scored with pinkish-white lines where her nails had kissed his skin, small red circles dotted his neck and collar bones with a rather brazen bite mark just inside his inner left thigh. As Zack pulled a pair of boxers on he caught sight of her little memento and smirked, "Looks like I'll have a couple of new battle scars to explain in the showers next time."

Tifa flushed crimson at that statement and he couldn't help but laugh. Teasing her was almost as enjoyable as the fighting and sex. Well, truth be told, the former was nowhere near the latter, but it all added up to a pleasurable mix that kept Zack returning to the brunette terrorist's company so often.

"So, if that school girl outfit REALLY helped get me in here, what's going to help me get out? Nurse's outfit? Dominatrix?"

The self-satisfied grin on her face let Zack know that she was more than enjoying pointing out his penchant for girls in uniforms. Not one to be outdone, he finished dressing and decided to fire her up a little more.

"Oh that? I'll tell you right now, the outfit did more harm than it did good. I had already bribed the guards a day ahead of time to not say a word about me bringing a girl in. The trainees in the yard? They're too afraid of the Class A SOLDIERs to rat on them, so all you did was provide some eye candy for the night. Really, that outfit was all for my benefit."

His exposition was concluded as he laced up the last of his boots and strapped his sword to his back. Tifa's mouth hung open, unbelieving that she had fallen for such a set-up. But before she could protest, yell, or anything else, he leaned in and kissed her.

"Training time," he said coolly, as if this morning was any different from the rest. "Follow me, we're going to go throw a few punches in the yard, see if you've gotten any better."

She started to protest again, ready to cite every reason from improper attire to the fact that she'd hardly be allowed into SOLDIER training grounds as a civilian...but she stopped herself short, knowing by then that Zack wouldn't take any sort of excuses and just find some way around everything. Her hand reached out and grabbed for his wrist before she was left behind, the materia bracelet she still had from their last battle rolling around loosely on her wrist, forgotten during the previous night.

The back training grounds were off limits to nearly the entire ShinRa company except the upper classed SOLDIERs. With land scarce as it was in Midgar, an area of their size being used just as empty space was a huge waste of money, until one considered it provided the best testing zone for the materia experiments and training that SOLDIERs undertook. The ground was barren and cracked, nothing grew there anymore, much like the rest of Sector 7, and the excessive use of terrain-altering materia probably didn't help matters much.

Zack swiped his card key and allowed them access into a fenced area that was roughly three times the size of Tifa's bar, making it the most spacious area they would contend in so far. He walked to the opposite end of the field and imbedded his sword into the ground near the fence so he could begin to stretch out. He looked up to see her standing there, a bit bewildered,

"You're not gonna stretch before a sparring match? Tsk tsk...I thought you were more experienced than that."

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and then realized he was serious about having a sparring match, on ShinRa property, with a wanted terrorist he had granted access to. But as absurd as it was, the fighting spirit in her blood urged her to comply. Smirking a bit, she raised her arms over her head and stretched out her back. She leaned one leg out and stretched sideways down to touch her ankle, then moved to copy the motion on the other side, noticing he was watching her. With her other leg stretched out now, instead of leaning down she dashed sideways, running at him full force with a right hook aimed for his jaw.

The surprise attack caught him completely off guard and his head snapped up with a crack, the force of the blow lifting him off the ground and falling back a few feet. He twisted his body forward to land shakily on his feet, hunched slightly over as he regained his senses. A hand came up to rub at his jaw, the other resting on his knee to brace himself as he caught his breath,

"Damn lucky...normal person would've been knocked out cold by that..."

Suddenly he rushed forward and tucked himself down into a roll, slipping between her braced legs and spinning back around to snap up quickly and plant a booted foot to the middle of her back. Tifa flew through the air face first, the cracked ground coming way too fast toward her face for her liking. Her arms shot out in front of her, palms scraping roughly against the clay terrain as her momentum was stopped by her hands. She shifted her direction up and flipped into the air, landing on her feet with her back to her opponent. Pivoting on her left foot, she swung her right out and around counter-clockwise, lowering it enough to catch his ankles.

Zack had anticipated this move and lifted his left foot to avoid her retaliation, snapping it back down as her foot passed between his own. With her right foot now trapped between his ankles, he leaned back, using his legs to flip her upwards into the air. As he released his entrapment of her leg and sent her flying, he continued the motion and flipped his legs back over his head, standing once more and making a dash for her landing spot.

The sound of the rough scrape of boots on dirt was followed by a sickening crack as Zack's knee came right between Tifa's back and the ground. She grunted as the wind left her lungs with the impact and she rolled off to land at his feet, gasping for breath.

"Not...fair..." she panted, propping herself up on her forearms. Suddenly she twisted her body toward him and grabbed his shoulders. Placing her feet directly on his torso, she shoved at him hard, flipping him over her head and toward the wall of the yard. He slammed hard into the chain link fence, landing nearly on his head as he slid to the ground. After righting himself, he grinned and held up his right hand in a fist, his left going to touch a piece of materia and activate it...only his fingertips met bare flesh.

Meanwhile, Tifa had stood back up and watched as he tried to make use of the very bracelet she was still in possession of. As he registered his missing accessory, she made her move, dashing toward him and grabbing his naked wrist, pinning it to his back as she skidded to a halt behind him.

"Not as prepared without your little tricks, are you?" she whispered in his ear.

He tipped his head back, letting her lips brush his ear as she taunted him. Not to be outdone, he turned to the side and caught her lips in a bruising kiss, slipping his tongue forcefully into her mouth to distract her as his ankle swept back and kicked her feet out from under her.

"I think I've still got a few tricks left, with or without materia!" he gloated as she crumpled to the ground, allowing him to pull back and rub the soreness out of his wrist and shoulder, which had been put in a rather unnatural position moments earlier.

Tifa scrambled up and dashed back to give herself some distance in case he attacked again. She smirked at him, still feeling the tingle on her parted lips,

"Oh, so we're going to play dirty, are we? Let's see..."

She held the bracelet up to the sky, letting the sunlight reflect off the small marbles imbedded within. Her fingers traced along the slots until they landed on one of the green orbs, her thumb circling over it lightly,

"what does THIS one do?"

Her palm was held out toward him as a burst of flame erupted from her fingertips, heading straight toward Zack, who knew full well which materia she had just activated. He turned quickly, dashing away from the small flame as it broke apart into hundreds of tiny flames, spreading rapidly and growing. As they pummeled the ground, huge craters formed, catching up to his heels until the ground erupted beneath him in a shower of fire and rock, sending him flying into the fence once more.

As the smoke cleared, he saw Tifa looking a bit bewildered at the spell she had just cast. He chuckled, knowing that she had no clue how to use the full powers at her command and grabbed his sword to show her how it was done.

"Flare, huh? Well two can play at that game..." he shouted, swinging his sword around. Zack leapt into the air, doing a double flip before slamming the weapon into the ground, a wave of earth breaking up from before his feet and slamming into her as he cast Quake.

Huge pillars of rock jutted up toward her and she had to maneuver herself backwards to avoid being impaled. It took a few fancy flips and twists to avoid the brunt of the damage, only having one small run in that cost her a nasty gash on her ankle. She skidded to a halt once the ground stopped moving, placing her hands on her knees and bending over to catch her breath as she glared at the massive spikes of rock between them.

"That's overkill! I don't even know how to use this thing!"

"Obviously," Zack laughed, "so does that mean you surrender?"

Tifa sat down on the ground, tearing a strip of cloth from the bottom of her shirt to wrap around her bleeding ankle.

"Promise you'll teach me about this thing and we've got a deal." She winced in pain as she finished the knot, the white cloth already starting to stain through red. "Wouldn't have tried that if I knew you could do it with your sword, too..."

"Materia can be placed on any weapon or accessory," Zack said as he walked over to her, unclipping the bracelet from her wrist and putting it back on his own. "I think I'll be taking this back before you cause any more trouble. Don't worry, you'll get it back at the end of the school year," he teased, offering a hand to help her up.

She swatted his hand away and went to get up on her own power, but her ankle wobbled and she nearly fell back down until he caught her around the waist. He hoisted her onto her feet, placing her arm around his shoulders as his other arm circled her hip.

"Let's go back inside and I'll give your first lesson on materia."

As she limped with him from the newly rearranged training ground, she looked back at the destruction they had caused, "Are you gonna get in trouble for this?"

He shook his head, "Nah, this is nothing compared to how bad it can get when two SOLDIERs go at it full force, especially if one's got a vendetta against the other. They'll just send a lackey out here later to cast a bunch of minor quake spells and rearrange the ground back to level state."

They made it back inside to Zack's room once more, where he deposited Tifa on the bed and grabbed a towel. After soaking it in warm water from the sink, he removed her makeshift bandage and wiped away the blood and dirt from the gash.

"Now this," he held up his bracelet and pointed to one of the green marbles imbedded within the metal, "is restore materia. All you have to do is touch it to activate it and then press your hand to the injured area. My set is pretty powerful, it'll take care of bruising, surface wounds, and broken bones. Some of the really high-level stuff will even take care of internal ruptures or continuously repair damage. And rumor has it that there's a type called 'revive' that can actually reverse death."

He rambled on about different pieces, what they did, and how they worked as he pressed his palm lightly to all the areas he had hit on her body. She had flipped onto her back as he rubbed his hands gently where he had both kicked and kneed her, the warm green glow seeping into her bruised spine and muscles. With her head resting on her arms, she almost fell asleep as the soothing warmth penetrated her body until Zack nudged her awake and handed her the bracelet.

"My turn?" he asked innocently, a sheepish grin on his face.

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To be continued in Chapter 8 - A Return to Routine


	8. A Return to Routine

Chapter 8 - A Return to Routine 

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Amazingly enough, the crew returned from Kalm and things returned to normal, or as normal as they could be for an eco-terrorist group. Never the one to rest much, Barret had taken his free time to find one of ShinRa's little side projects in the form of a mako reactor being constructed in the mountain range to the southwest of Kalm. While Jesse, Biggs, Wedge, and Marlene were busy playing in the surrounding forests and lakes, Barret sat in the inn studying maps and topographical charts of the area, already plotting their assault on the reactor, determined to destroy it in its infantile stage before it could do any damage to the planet. He had promised the crew that the moment they got back to Midgar, he'd have a plan formed and work would resume immediately - and he wasn't kidding. Before the unpacking of suitcases could even begin, Barret had his maps and diagrams spread out over the newly replaced meeting table. He barked orders for new wireless communicators to Jesse, and for Biggs and Wedge to start checking in sector 6 for any sort of outfitter that could provide mountain climbing gear, as well as explosives enough to take off a major chunk of the face of a mountain. A fitting plan: AVALANCHE causing an avalanche of its own onto the barely built reactor.

Tifa resumed her facade as junior AVALANCHE member, bartender, and babysitter as naturally as everyone sprang back into action. Eventually after the initial ruckus of a group returning from vacation died down, and preparations for their next mission started to smooth out into more organized chaos, they noticed the newly repaired parts of the bar and commended Tifa on what they figured to be one hell of a choice in contractors. She smiled, telling them it didn't come cheap, but it was about time she put some of the money she had saved up into the place. Even Barret neglected to comment on his suspicions - if he still held any - due to his absorption in their new target.

Days passed just as always before a new mission, with each member doing their own assignment so that once the time to act came, all the pieces would fall into place. Jesse's communicators were tested to work at high altitudes and had wind cancellation to counteract the frigid gusts that could assault them as they placed the explosives. Biggs had managed to find a shop in Nibelheim that sold mountain climbing gear, and took a week-long excursion over to the western continent to procure their equipment. Wedge meanwhile took his own business trip to North Corel, being the best place to obtain illegal explosives besides Junon. He had argued to Barret that Junon would be closer and more convenient, but Barret argued right back that buying explosives in a town run by the very company whose reactor they were planning to use said explosives on was not a good idea.

With the boys off in the western continent buying supplies, and Jesse cloistered in her workroom with the "Do Not Disturb - Genus At Work" sign hung prominently on the door, Tifa was left with nothing more than playing with Marlene, maintaining the bar and helping Barret with his plans. As busy as her life sounded, she still found plenty of time to muse over the 360-degree turn of events that had taken place in less than a month's time. She had gone from busily working on mission plans to being a ShinRa captive, to creating a somewhat awkward relationship with a SOLDIER, and then back to mission work, all while learning the truth behind the night at Mt. Nibel that changed her life.

Really, all that was different now was the fact that she had Zack in her life...sort of. She hadn't seen or even heard from her lover, if she considered him that at this point, since their last rendezvous in his room before she left after their little training session. Tifa couldn't just walk up to the ShinRa HQ and knock on the door, asking if Zack could come out and play, and she didn't have any number to contact him with, nor did she want to risk getting tracked after that. The ball was in his court, as it seemed to almost always be, and she could do nothing but wait until he decided to come back to see her.

-------------------------------------

In a few days the group would set out for the southwestern mountain range of Kalm to put a stop to yet another mako-sucking abomination of ShinRa's. Equipment was being discretely shipped to a safe house Barret had set up while they were still on vacation, the last minute checks on their communicators were being run, and Marlene's safety was secured at the home of an old woman Tifa had befriended during several of her trips to the local market. Everything was going smoothly, until one busy night at the bar when Tifa received more than the customary 2 gil tip sitting next to an empty glass. She cleared the newly vacated stool, trying to remember the man that had previously occupied it and apparently left her a small note with the ShinRa company logo on it.

"Tomorrow night, 12:24AM, wear a black tank top and shorts, hair in a ponytail, come unarmed. Back gate off Alley 24-B, act cool and call the guard "Gary" and he'll know. - Z"

She gripped the scribbled note tighter and tried in vain to remember the man sitting at that stool, usually being amazingly adept at recognizing customers. All she could recall was a blue baseball cap and brown jacket, too scrawny to be Zack himself. So he had sent a lackey to summon her? Her mouth quirked in an annoyed smirk; pretty romantic to invite her to another date at the headquarters of the company her organization was trying to take down. The note was stuffed in her apron before anyone could notice and she went back about her work. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she mused that she'd have to demand a proper date one of these days.

--------------------------

With only 4 minutes to spare, Tifa ran quickly through the grimy alleyways of sector 7, reminded of how not too long ago she was doing the same thing, for a completely different reason, and would end up meeting the same man in the end. Her heart fluttered, musing that she would more than likely end up in the same situation as she was that first night, only this time completely consenting and more than willing. She shook her head, clearing such thoughts once more, and wondering when she got this giddy and worked up over such a guy. But the more she looked at it, the more she grew accustomed to being with Zack and his attitude, his love of a good fight, and of course, his prowess in the bedroom.

The next passage she passed was marked 24-B and she was glad for it, only having a minute left to reach her destination. Why he had picked 24 minutes past midnight was beyond her, but if she tried to explain half the things Zack did, she'd never get anything done. Waiting a moment in the shadows, she caught her breath and composed herself, sauntering up as casually as she could to the stout man standing guard at the outermost gate.

"Hello, Gary." she said, smiling brightly at the droopy-eyed guard trying desperately not to fall asleep at his post. He blinked once or twice to clear the fog from his vision and then did a double-take at the woman standing before him.

"Wow, Zack wasn't kidding...he didn't waist no gil on you, no ma'am," he muttered before clearing his throat. Tifa allowed a scowl cross her face as she realized she was being admitted once again under the guise of a prostitute, but quickly slipped a smile back onto her face as the guard continued. "You go right on in, he'll be waiting for you past the next checkpoint. Tell the next guys you're "Fair's Game" and you'll be cleared."

She ground her teeth in what looked to him like an innocent grin and nodded her thanks as she walked through the opened gate, all while making a mental note that their next date had better be at one hell of a non-ShinRa location to make up for a second jab at her pride. The next area she entered was a security checkpoint staffed by two burly guards with hair so shaggy it fell over their eyes. They were the types you could never read their mood, so she decided to play the innocent hooker card and flounced up to them.

"Evening boys, I'm Fair's Game," she announced, trying to sound as confident and sultry as possible without giving them any ideas. The guard on her left grunted and turned his head to his partner. The right guard looked her up and down before giving a short nod to the other and grabbing her arm. The left guard followed suit and before Tifa could struggle or protest, she was quickly frisked and then shoved through the metal detector, stumbling forward into the arms of one SOLDIER first class with spiky black hair.

"Hiya beautiful," he grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist as he slipped a few gil to the guard on the left, leading his newly acquired guest into the building. Once inside, Tifa wriggled out from his grasp and punched him in the arm, lightly enough to not cause any serious injury, but with enough force to let him know this wasn't just a love-tap.

"What is it with you and telling everyone here that I'm a prostitute!?" she whispered harshly, not wanting to make this anyone's business but theirs.

He laughed and took her hand, leading her to an elevator down the hallway and swiping his card key to activate his level access, "Would you rather I tell them you're an AVALANCHE member? That'll get you access for sure, but I guarantee you that you'll end up in places way less fun than my bedroom." The grin and wink that accompanied his statement wasn't lost on Tifa and she flushed slightly as he pressed the button for the 64th floor. As the elevator ascended she noticed that the selected floor was among a group of buttons sectioned off in red.

"Where are we going? Your room isn't this far up," she questioned.

He slipped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips to her neck as he answered, "I got us special access to the executive floors for tonight. It's gonna be a while, this thing's slow as hell, you up for a little fun in an elevator?"

She squirmed in his arms and pushed him off, heart already racing a bit at the naughty thoughts he had conjured up in her mind. "Not in a GLASS elevator, you voyeur-perv."

"Aw c'mon, it's 2:30 in the morning, no one's awake but a few patrol guards, and their job sucks so much why not give them a little show, liven up their night?" The comment earned him another punch to the arm and Tifa leaned back against the corner of the elevator, crossing her arms and scowling.

"So where are we going and for what?" she questioned, noting they still had another 20 floors to go and her patience was wearing thin.

"Hmm, I think you can wait another 18 floors to find out. Don't worry, I wouldn't hand you over to the president or anything. Lord knows what that fat bastard would do if he got his hands on you. Besides, I'm rather possessive..." she looked at him slightly worried and he quickly added, "Don't worry, it's just you and me up here at this hour. These levels are restricted to the ShinRa board of directors, and you're hard pressed to find them here during business hours, let alone after hours."

The flashing light above the doors along with the accompanying 'ding' of the floor alarm let them know they had reached their destination. How Zack had received a card key with access to the executive floors was of little concern to Tifa once the doors opened to reveal the splendor that was the executive gym and training rooms. There were rows upon rows of the most advanced and expensive training machines, state-of-the-art simulation bays with the latest in combat replication units, and even a full nutrition center. Everything seemed to be untouched and pristine, as if it were barely used at all.

Zack gave her a gentle nudge to send her out of the elevator and followed suit, taking her by the hand once more and leading her off to one of the many aerobics rooms. Opening one of the locked doors, the light sensors triggered and bathed the room in a halogen glare. The large area was nothing more than an empty room, furnished only with full wall-mirrors and firm blue training mats for flooring. She walked to the center of the room almost in a daze as he closed and locked the door behind them.

"I figured last time, you were a bit overwhelmed, and out of your element. I thought this time we'd fight on your turf, your way," he muttered, running a hand back through his hair. It was then that she noticed he too was unarmed, and wearing only a black t-shirt and shorts, causing her skepticism to fade and a smile to grace her lips,

"Ok, you got me. This was a cute gesture. But you're still not off the hook for the prostitute thing. Next time, we're going on a REAL date."

He laughed, "Ok, fine, it's settled. Next time, real date..."

Without warning, he launched himself at her, fist flying toward her left shoulder, "Winner gets to decide where"  
Tifa narrowly dodged his punch and shuffled to the side, grabbing his left shoulder and flipping him down on the mat below their feet. Zack quickly turned, sucking his body into a roll as Tifa jumped a few paces back to give herself a bit of distance and get herself ready for his next attack. When his face was parallel to the floor, he pushed his palms down and flipped his body back up, landing on his feet. He pivoted forward, rushing toward her with an open palm and thrusting it into her sternum, sending her flying backward.

Airborne, she shifted her feet behind her body and planted them firmly against the wall, shattering the mirror that covered it. As shards of mirror fell at her feet, she reversed her movement and launched herself back at him, her fist cocked back toward his jaw. His head snapped back as her attack connected, a loud resounding crack heard as he watched the ceiling come into view, the world moving in slow motion. His body was spinning from the force of the blow and falling towards the ground but the palm of his hand slammed down on the mat to halt his impact. His leg snapped up and caught her knee as she flew over him, hoping to spin her out of control.

A pained gasp escaped her lips as his foot met with her knee, sending it to the side and throwing her balance off. Hitting the mat hip-first, she swung out her uninjured leg and caught the wrist that was holding his body up, jarring her foot between the mat and his ribcage so he fell straight on it. Pain shot up Zack's side as several of his ribs collapsed in on themselves, thankfully far enough away from puncturing vital organs. With his full weight now resting on her foot, her leg was trapped beneath him and he took this opportunity to slam his elbow down into her knee. Zack lifted himself off the mat with a pained grunt, finding it difficult to draw breath with broken ribs threatening to puncture something vital with every movement. Tifa wasn't fairing much better, either, with both knees now throbbing in pain. In her defense, she tucked her legs back behind her to avoid more damage to the already throbbing limbs. As both fighters struggled to their feet, Tifa managed to rasp out, "You're...fixing that later..."

Desperate to end the fight before she lost her mobility completely, she threw herself at him full force, driving her fist up into his chest. He slammed full force against the wall, shattering yet another mirror into glittering shards. As he slid down to the floor, coughing from the impact and trying to regain his breath, he smirked up at her, "Alright, alright...I surrender. Remind me to bring my sword next time, you're dangerous."

Tifa wobbled over to where he was now seated and slumped against the wall next to him, finally allowing her battered legs some much needed rest. The pair sat amidst shattered glass, panting slightly and coming down from their post-fight adrenaline. Finally, Tifa spoke up,

"So what do we do now that we're too beaten up and tired to leave this room? Wait until the janitorial staff finds us and hope they have a restore materia attached to their mop?"

Zack chuckled at her sarcasm and reached into the pocket of his shorts to bring out his materia bracelet and clip it on. "A good SOLDIER always comes prepared. I was just being a gentleman and not using it for our fight." He turned to her and pulled her body so she was seated between his legs, activating the restore materia as he did so. His arm glowed green with the curative power and he moved it down her right hip to her knee, rubbing it lightly as the energy poured into her body and mended the damage done there. Tifa's body relaxed under his touch and she leaned back into his chest as he repeated the treatment to her left knee as well. When her legs were restored to their original lethal state, his hand traveled up her stomach and came to rest between her breasts, applying a light pressure to her bruised sternum as the materia worked its magic on her last injury. Soon, her body tingled lightly as the last of the healing energy spread throughout her limbs, relieving the fatigue caused by their sparring and leaving her feeling contentedly tired.

With her body treated, Zack unclipped the bracelet and caught Tifa's wrist, clipping the accessory onto her arm in an unspoken gesture that it was his turn for treatment. She sluggishly sat up and turned around, reversing their positions so that his head now rested back against her soft chest. She activated the materia and started at his shoulders, massaging both as she sent the healing energy into the left one where she grappled him to the mat earlier. With that bruise healed, she moved her hands down lower, working the knots out of his muscles as she went along, until she located the broken ribs she had caused with her boot. As the bones mended back together Zack let out a sigh of relief, no longer feeling the stabbing pain of the threat of a punctured lung or worse.

Broken ribs tended to, her touch traveled down his abdomen and rested just above his navel, sending the healing energy down to his legs in just a reparative gesture to alleviate the fatigue there, as there wasn't much in the way of damage to heal. His final injury was his jaw, and she brought her hands up along his chest to cup his chin, tilting his head back against her chest once more as she cleared up the swelling and bruising her punch had caused. His half-lidded eyes looked up at her with a content expression much like a cat laying in a warm patch of sun. As the healing finished, Tifa couldn't help herself and leaned down to kiss him gently.

Zack brought a hand up to cup the back of her head and pull her down closer, parting her lips and urging her on further. He moved to sit up, but before he could turn back to resume the kiss, she pushed him back lightly, resulting in his body being laid out flat on the mat with Tifa now straddling his knees. She clamped her legs around his hips and pinned his shoulders to the floor as she loomed over him, "Victory celebration..." she smirked. As the words left her lips, she released his shoulders and stripped off her tank top before leaning down to kiss him once more.

---------------------------------------

Reno flipped off the monitor, idly tapping his deactivated EMR against the desk of the security console. One of the guards slumped in the corner moaned slightly, struggling to get up after regaining consciousness, and the redhead shocked him back into a short-term coma.

"So, that's what our buddy Fair's been up to, huh Rude?" Reno mumbled, addressing his partner who was seated in the other chair. Rude nodded, as stoic as ever even given the events he had just watched unfold on the security cameras. Reno ejected the tape from the recorder and slipped it in his pants pocket, "I'm totally saving this for later, yo," he chuckled as he waltzed past the incapacitated surveillance guards. Had the dark glasses not covered his eyes, Reno would've seen the disproving glare in Rude's eyes, but having been partners for so many years now, he knew. "Yeah yeah, I know, it's unprofessional to keep video taped security footage of your co-workers having sex with terrorists in the company gym, but that shit was hot, yo!" Reno kept babbling on as they left the security station of ShinRa HQ, a trail of knocked out guards littering the corridors before them. When the Turks wanted access to an area, they got it and if questions were asked, things happened.

------------------------------

Oblivious to the electronic eye watching them from the ceiling, Tifa snuggled into the cradle of Zack's arms, feeling oddly at ease for being naked in a restricted ShinRa training room. Knowing that they were both mere moments from giving in to the warm embrace of sleep, Zack nudged her free and rolled over to start locating their discarded clothing. After they dressed, Tifa checked her watch and realized it was almost 3 in the morning.

"I can't stay here, Zack. I have to get back to the bar. The others are going to be waking up soon and we've...got things to take care of."

He nodded, knowing full well that she was already risking an inquisition once she returned if it were found out she was gone half the night. She walked toward the doors, but his hand, or rather a chunk of metal, caught her wrist. Expecting to look down and see another pair of handcuffs and a half-assed excuse of passing her off as a prisoner being taken out of the building for transport, she instead found a light silver bracelet fitted with 6 pieces of materia.

"Zack? What...?" she mumbled, unable to finish her question as he kissed her softly.

"I didn't contact you earlier because I was away on a mission in the Ancient Forest. This is a little souvenir I picked up while I was out there." He brought her wrist up between them, "It's called a Minerva Band...something to keep you safe when I'm not around. Now that you know how to use materia, I figured I'd set you up with the basics. It's got Fire, Ice, Lightning, Restore, Sense and Exit┘that last one's gonna come in handy when you need to come and go from here."

His usual confident grin was replaced by a somewhat subdued, almost nervous smile and he ran his free hand through his hair, staring up over her head and unable to meet her gaze. She smiled warmly, knowing that this very un-Zacklike gesture was a sincere attempt at showing her that this wasn't just all fun and games to him.

Tifa's hand slid lightly against his cheek, her new bracelet shifting slightly around on her wrist. She brought his eyes to hers and held his gaze for a moment before returning the kiss, "Thank you, Zack. I'll treasure it."

Not to be one for letting the moment stay sappy for long, he slipped his arms around her waist and turned her around, pulling her back toward his chest and nipping lightly at her neck, "What do you say to going back to my room for one more round before you make your grand escape?"

-----------------------

To be continued in Chapter 9 - Saucers and Spies


	9. Saucers and Spies

Wow, I am so sorry it took this long. I've seriously had it written for months and just never got to a good stopping point for this chapter. I was going to even continue further, but figured if I waited any longer I'd lose the few of you left reading, lol.

And yes, the release of Crisis Core had everything to do with the revival of my work. I bought a PSP strictly for that game, such is my love.

Chapter 9 - Saucers and Spies

* * *

Tifa had somehow managed to pry herself out of Zack's grip the next morning and make her exodus from the building, a task made much easier with her newly acquired Exit materia. With the escape ability now at her command, she could slip easily in and out of the building without the guards noticing her. She couldn't quite figure out how it worked - one moment she was standing in Zack's room and the next she was back in the alleyway she had first approached the night prior. Not wanting to take the time to contemplate the mysteries of the magic of the solidified mako, she jogged quickly back to Seventh Heaven and hopped right in the shower, making it seem as if she had just woken up and began her morning routine as usual.

After freshening up, she made her way downstairs to start breakfast for herself and the others. Marlene wandered downstairs at the first scents of Tifa's home cooking made their way to the upper bedrooms. Tifa smiled warmly at the young girl and started preparing a bowl of cereal for her as the sounds of the rest of the AVALANCHE crew waking could be heard upstairs. As Tifa sat at the kitchen table slicing a banana into Marlene's cereal and humming to herself, Barret entered and grinned down at her, "You jes' about as excited as I am 'fore a mission. I think I'm rubbin' off on ya too much," he quipped, ruffling Tifa's damp hair in the process.

She swatted his hand away, "Oh quit it, Barret. I'm just eager to try my hand at this again and do a good job this time..." Her voice trailed off and smile fell, the same happening to her leader's face as they both remembered what happened during the last mission.

"Tifa, y'still didn't tell me what-"

"Nothing, Barret. I was captured, I was released," she snapped. "I didn't tell them anything, they don't know who I was with, and I wasn't hurt." Marlene looked up at the thick atmosphere now hanging around the breakfast table with a questioning look in her eyes. Tifa smiled at her, "It's nothing, Marlene. Eat your cereal and go finish packing to go to Grandma Jane's house, okay?" The small girl nodded and shoveled another spoonful of sugar-coated goodness into her mouth. Barret took this as a cue to drop the situation and grab a muffin before making his exodus back to the meeting room to go over their last minute plans.

Static crackled through the earpiece, but Tifa's voice came through clear, "Detonation I-2 in place. Clear from perimeter. Secured and waiting, over."

"Detonation I-3 in place. Clear from perimeter. Secured and waiting. LET'S BLOW THIS SUCKER, WOO!...over."

"Biggs! Don't yell, you'll blow my eardrums! Detonation I-4 in place. Clear from perimeter. Secured and waiting, over."

"Oh shut up you two. Detonation I-1 in place. Clear from perimeter. Secured and waiting, over."

"Detonation I-0 active and armed, Y'all better be clear and secured, because we're blowing this thing! Take this, ShinRa #&!" With that, Barret hit the trigger on the main control panel and four simultaneous explosions rocked the mountainside, jarring a large chunk of the rock from its face and sending it into a free fall toward the construction below. Workers screamed and ran for cover as the giant boulder descended upon their job site, crushing hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless months' worth of work.

Luckily, Tifa had the foresight to switch her earpiece off as the blast rang through the area, protecting her from the amplification that the four other microphones would have surely picked up. When she switched it back on, she was still greeted with a deafening roar of celebration as the other members of AVALANCHE cried out in joy for another reactor successfully destroyed.

"Get yer asses back down here so we can get the hell back to Midgar and really celebrate!" Barret yelled as Tifa and the others unclipped from their security latches that had tethered them firmly to the mountainside. As she repelled down to the ground, she couldn't help but feel a bit saddened that there may have been some workers trapped in the deadly rock slide she had just helped create. These men weren't true ShinRa employees, but mere contract workers hired to complete construction on various ShinRa projects. As she approached their meeting point, Jesse had already beaten her to it and was sitting on a rock grinning in triumph. She looked up at Tifa's worried face and immediately pulled her down next to her,

"Tif, what's wrong? We did it! Another one bites the dust! That's AVALANCHE 3, ShinRa 0 since I've been on the team!"

Tifa shook her head, "Jesse, you ever wonder how many innocent people we've killed when we pull these things off?"

Biggs dropped down behind the two women and put an arm around each of their shoulders, "Innocent my ass, they work for ShinRa, they're just as bad as the company itself!"

Wedge stumbled down the mountain and came to a halt at the foot of the rock Tifa and Jesse sat on, "Yeah, they know what their employer does. It's not like anyone doesn't know ShinRa's killing the planet."

"But, I mean, ShinRa doesn't always employ their own workers to do stuff like this, especially reactor construction. It'd cost too much to keep a construction crew just for these sorts of things. All those innocent contractors hired to do that job were killed...casualties of a war they had nothing to do with."

Barret walked up to the group with the detonation panel hanging off one shoulder, "Independent contractors know the risks and who they're workin' fer' before they take a job. They could'a jes' walked away instead of helpin' out ShinRa. Greedy bastards knew they was working for a planet-killing, money-suckin', no-good #& company...they did it for the money, and this is what they get."

Tifa sighed, knowing there'd be no remorse for anything ShinRa-related from this group, and let it go. They finished unhooking their climbing gear and packing it back up before making a quick getaway in their truck, heading back to the safe house to regroup, send the equipment off, and head back to Midgar.

* * *

It was on her way through Sector 6 to pick Marlene up from her babysitter that Tifa had her first, and certainly not last, encounter with a member of the Turks. She was walking through the playground, which was bereft of any life due to the late hour, except for a lone, red-headed man sitting on a swing. Un-phased by his presence, she merely walked through as if he didn't exist, until a metal baton shot out in front of her path, coming to rest against her stomach.

"Hey babe, where's a pretty lady like you going at a time like this?"

Her fists clenched at her sides and she went to sidestep around the barricade, but her new companion had other plans. Before she could reply with a snappy comeback, he stood and dashed at her, using his momentum to knock her back against the spherical cat-faced playground slide and pin her against it, caging her in with his arms. She didn't have time to react or even question his motives, Tifa sprang into action, countering him with a knee up to his stomach.

Reno doubled over, coughing and trying to catch the breath she had just knocked from his lungs, and Tifa jumped up to land on top of the slide. "What do you want with me?"

Still holding his middle, he looked up her, a little pissed but still with a cocky grin on his face, "I've noticed you've taken a certain interest in a buddy of mine lately. Bosses don't like it, said they don't need a hussy like you distracting Fair. So I'm here to deliver that message, yo."

Tifa wondered idly if he knew that he was seriously pushing her buttons with the 'hussy' comment or if it was just his dumb luck choosing to use the very occupation that kept getting Zack into trouble with her as well. She jumped back down and approached the fiery-haired man, grabbing the lapels of his black jacket and yanking his face so their noses were mere inches apart, "I am NOT a hussy. I am a proper woman, TRYING to have a normal relationship, and it's jackasses like you and your damn company that keep getting in the way with that!" She pulled back for a second before sending a mean right hook into his smirking face, snapping his nose to the side with a sickening crunch.

Reno staggered back, landing on the ground as his hands flew up to cover his now bloodied face. "Yer gobba pay fer dat..." he muttered, the blood flowing down his chin. He stood and wiped one hand on his pants while the other grabbed his neglected weapon from the ground, flipping the switch on and giving the EMR back its namesake power.

She eyed the electrically charged metallic baton in his hand and knew immediately that she was going to be at a disadvantage. She was made for close-range combat, but now that her opponent had a 2-foot advantage, complete with an elemental boost, she was going to be hard-pressed to attack without putting any of her body in danger of severe electrocution. Knowing her legs were her best bet at that time, she swept down and turned on her left foot, trying to pivot her right leg out and catch his ankles, but Reno reacted quickly, jumping up and landing on the swing he had previously vacated. He swung there for a moment, looking like a playing child, until he lunged at her again, swinging the EMR down toward her shoulder. Tifa rolled to the side and stood, moving forward to bring a heel drop down to the middle of his back when he brought the rod upright and caught her boot in mid-air, effectively halting her assault. Luckily the rubber sole of her footwear insulated her leg against any electrocution, giving Tifa a slightly larger chance at preventing unwanted shock, but not by much.

He shook her foot loose from his weapon and went for her other ankle, but she danced back switching from foot to foot until she was a good distance away from him to assess her situation. She couldn't get in close, and she didn't have any weapons, unless... The bracelet on her arm glinted in the moonlight, the 5 green and one yellow marble shining with their ethereal light. Remembering Zack's lessons, she ran her thumb over one of the green materia and concentrated for a moment before flicking her wrist out toward her opponent. A small burst of flame shot out from her arm, catching Reno off guard and scorching his suit, the sleeve of his jacket catching on fire. He ripped the charred article off and flung it into the distance.

"Whoa there with the party tricks, yo! No one told me you could use materia! Fair's got a real interest in protecting you if he's giving away military secrets like they're jewelry. Although after a fuck like that, I'd give you one hell of a present, myself." He watched as the look of shock crossed Tifa's face and couldn't help but laugh. "You can't expect a company like ShinRa to not have cameras in every room of its headquarters, can you? Yeah I watched you the other night in the gym...and I'll be watching it many times more. That tape's gonna come in handy next time I'm alone on business with no one but Rude, if ya catch my drift, yo."

Anger coursed through her veins, clouding her judgment, and she flicked the next green materia on her bracelet, flashing her hand out toward the vulgar man standing before her. Without thought of what she was doing, she cast a Bolt spell directly at the electricity user, who braced against it with his EMR, effectively charging it up.

"Thanks for the little power boost, babe!" he shouted, lunging at her and catching the side of her forearm with the tip of the charged baton. The electricity shot through her left arm, rendering it numb and the force of the blow sent her reeling back a few feet. As Tifa skidded to a halt against a jungle gym, she held her now paralyzed left arm and gritted her teeth at him.

"You perverted bastard, are all the ShinRa men such voyeuristic assholes?!"

Reno chuckled, de-charging the EMR back to its neutral state and licking the metal rod with a sick sort of sexual display. "Wouldn't you like to find out?" he chided, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

She brought her right arm down and nudged her left fingertips against the third green materia to activate it. Cold air swirled around the bracelet for a second before she pointed her hand out and shot a bolt of freezing cold air at Reno's left leg, encasing it in ice up to his knee.

"FUCK! That's cold!" he screamed, beating his baton against the chunks of ice now rooting his leg in place. Tifa almost laughed as he chipped away at the solid block as if his weapon were an ice pick. Reno looked up at the amusement in her expression and scowled, "So you like to play games, eh? Let's see how you like being stuck in place, too." Suddenly, the world around Tifa took on a golden hue as three translucent panels closed up around her body in a sort of energy pyramid. A light touch with the fingertips of her good arm resulted in a tingling shock not much different from static electricity, but the panels were solid. She ran her open palm along them, pushing and finding complete resistance, as if he had built a glass cage around her body.

Finally deciding that he was going nowhere at that rate, Reno sucked it up and cast a small fire spell to his ice-encrusted leg, melting it to freedom and charring off one of his pant legs as well. He sighed dejectedly, "Well, thanks to all the fire going off around here, that's another suit I'm gonna have to replace." He looked up to see Tifa, banging away at her new prison and shouting muffled curses at him through the wall.

"Now that you're stuck there, time we had that little chat the bosses sent me for," he sat back down on his swing. "The company knows who you are, who you're with, and who you work for. They know where your bar is, they know who's there with you, they know what you're up to, and they don't like any of it of course. I was sent here to deliver an ultimatum that you are to stop all contact with Fair, that's all. And they said I was to make sure you got that message by 'any means necessary'...considering all I did was paralyze your arm and put you in a pyramid for a while, you got off lucky, babe, there's a lot worse I could do to you." He winked again for effect but she turned an indifferent glare to him in reply. "Anyway, they're not too concerned about your little terrorist group, they'll take care of you in due time. Stop blowing up reactors and maybe they'll just ignore you all together. But this business of shaking up with a SOLDIER, that's getting a little too close for comfort. They're worried about the usual, getting distracted, slipping you information, all that bullshit. He's gonna be one of Lazard's top boys, and nothing is supposed to interfere with that...including hot chicks like you. Now, Turks on the other hand, we don't like following rules, so if you're lookin' for another good lay, I'm all yours, babe."

His offer was met with silence and he shrugged, having already known he wasn't getting any tonight from his target. Picking up his EMR and collapsing it back to its travel state, he slipped the weapon in his belt and approached Tifa. He tapped the pyramid twice to get her attention, blew her a kiss, and sauntered off into the streets surrounding the playground. Anger boiled inside the imprisoned woman and she sent her right fist flying into the golden wall before her. With minimal effort, the pyramid wall shattered, the energy glinting and flickering in shards before disappearing at her feet. She stood there dumbstruck for a moment before screaming out in anger for having been fooled by such a weak illusion. Upon release from Reno's trick, she also noticed she had regained the use of her left arm, leaving only a creepy tingling sensation behind. Livid at her humiliation, she stalked off toward the residential district to pick Marlene up.

Zack was going to hear an earful when they went on their date the next evening.

* * *

True to his word, Zack had procured them VIP passes to the Golden Saucer. Getting there, of course, was the biggest issue, and not for the first time in the history of their relationship, Tifa wished she could've just had him pick her up at her place like normal people. Instead, she was on the early train bound for an airfield outside of Junon which apparently held the ShinRa personal aircraft.

Upon exit from the train platform, she quickly located a familiar face among the various military vehicles parked at the perimeter of the station. Zack waved at her from a jeep and beckoned her over, grabbing her bag and tossing it in the back once she approached. A tight red shirt outlined his muscular form, paired with black baggy pants that looked as if he had slept in them. He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before turning the engine over and speeding off toward the air strip.

"I come all this way for a romantic date and all I get is a kiss on the cheek?" she teased.

Zack laughed, "Hey, your fault. I had to tell them you're my sister and I'm taking you to Gongaga to visit our sick mother...I don't want the boys thinking I'm into incest, y'know."

She smirked, "Well, I suppose I should be grateful for that...at least this time you didn't pass me off as a hooker."

The jeep stopped next to a small two-seater propeller plane which was being prepped for takeoff by a few mechanics. Zack waved to them and took Tifa by the wrist, ushering her over to the ladder and motioning for her to climb up. Once seated in the tiny cockpit, Zack followed her up, stashing their bags in the small cargo hold and then buckling himself in to start his pre-flight preparations.

"So, you can do carpentry work, gain access to restricted corporate HQ buildings, and pilot small aircraft...is there ANYTHING you can't do?" Tifa questioned as they taxied down the runway before taking off into the air.

"Hmm, I can't play a musical instrument to save my life...other than that, I'm pretty much covered," he snickered, adjusting a dial on the console.

"Smartass," she scolded, "just for that you're going to prove you CAN do everything and win me a prize at the Wonder Square."

"Deal," he smirked, "and after that, we're getting a private car on the gondola and you're not allowed to object to anything that happens while inside."

Tifa blushed, knowing full well what he was alluding to and wondered if he really did have a fetish for having sex in public places.

The small plane touched down on a derelict stretch of desert outside of Corel. A shabby airplane hangar was the only sign of human influence for miles, and luckily there was a fueled jeep waiting inside for the couple. Zack pulled the plane up to the bay doors and shut it down, opening the hatch and tossing their bags to the ground before lowering himself down the ladder. Tifa followed suit, hopping down into his arms but pulling away quickly when she saw another ShinRa guard approach the plane.

"Zack you jackass, you owe me for this shit," he grumbled, tossing him a pair of keys.

"Yeah yeah, I'm aware." Zack muttered, picking up their bags. "Thanks Walt, I know coming all the way out here is a pain in the ass. You'll get a check when I get back to Midgar, ok?"

Walt grumbled and shuffled over to the plane to bring it into the hangar. "How long ya gonna be? I wanna have her ready for you to go so I don't have to hang out in this shithole too long."

Zack shrugged, "Eh, tomorrow evening? Yeah, that sounds good. Don't wanna keep sis here away from her work too long." He ruffled Tifa's hair in a brotherly gesture.

Walt just grunted and rolled his eyes as the pair hopped into the jeep and took off, leaving him to tend to the plane.

The ropeway tram shuddered to a halt outside the impressive entrance of the Golden Saucer. Zack and Tifa stepped out and after swiping their passes, were admitted into the neon paradise for the next 24 hours. They immediately headed for Ghost Square, which was the location of the only lodging in the park. After being greeted rather creepily by the hanging front desk attendant, they were escorted to a private suite that overlooked the chocobo tracks. Tifa had her nose pressed to the glass, watching the race taking place below, when Zack crept up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, pressing his lips to her collarbone.

"There'll be enough time for that later," she scolded, wriggling out of his grasp. Tifa grabbed her suitcase and flopped it open on the bed, pulling out a track jacket and sweatpants to change in to. Zack eyed her curiously as she changed.

"And just what are we up to now then?" he questioned.

"Battle Square. I thought we'd have a little fun, maybe a bet...handicaps? We've already determined that with weapons and materia, you've got me beat, but hand-to-hand I've got you. So...my expertise against yours in an arena that can cripple us both evenly. I'd say that's a pretty good way to see who's better, ne?"

He shrugged and followed her out of the room, never one to pass up a shot at a good fight, and even better a chance to put a fun wager on their little competition. Apparently she had a passion for trying to beat him in competitions, and more often than not, the stakes at hand were quite pleasurable for both the winner and loser.

A quick trip through the tubular transport system found Tifa standing at the upper platform of the Battle Square, peering over the railing to the stage below. A lone walkway passed over a moat of murky-looking water and the whole area was illuminated with harsh neon lighting. She set her training bag down on the edge and unzipped her jacket, leaving her in a tank top and sweatpants, her newly acquired materia bracelet dangling from one wrist. She unlatched the gate and stepped forward onto the platform.

Holstering his newly rented sword onto his back, Zack stepped onto the bridge, cracking his knuckles as he entered the Battle Arena platform. Eying her form with a hint of mischief, Zack flashed her a grin as he unsheathed his weapon, letting the tip of the blade touch the ground as he leaned against it. A flash of green from the hilt was seen momentarily as the platform began to tremble, giving her a wink as the steel walkway shattered below her.

The makeshift bridge crumbled beneath their feet and Tifa jumped to the main arena to avoid falling. "You always have to make things hard for us to leave, don't you?" she muttered, landing on the stage and bouncing around a bit to get a fair distance away. "So we gonna just go all out, or are we gonna set some rules? Maybe a little wager? This IS the Battle Square..."

"Wager? What did you have in mind?" He stalked around the ring, swinging his sword in circles with one hand. He was eying up the arena, picking up the nuances of their battlegrounds, noticing the shards of tile that were formerly connecting their platform to the main walkway. Finally, his gaze turned back to his voluptuous opponent, "Gonna pay for dinner on the next date?"

She smirked at him as she gathered her hair back up into a high ponytail, "Hmm, I guess I can decide that later," she muttered half-heartedly. Suddenly the arm with the materia bracelet fell down from her hair and pointed out at him, firing out a small bolt of lightning in his direction. "When I win, that is!"

Zack jumped back quickly and the bolt of lightning struck right where his foot had been a moment ago, singed remains of the tile there proving it. Gritting his teeth as his feet slid towards the edge of the platform, he skidded to a halt before snatching up a broken piece of tile and hurling it at her. He rushed forward, raising his sword above his head, "You win? Ha!"

Her other arm snapped up and swatted away the flying tile, sending it into the moat with a small splash. She rushed at him with her shoulder out, fully intending to knock him off the edge, but Zack threw himself to the side and slammed his sword into the ground as he let it go, making sure he triggered the Quake materia. Using only Quake 1, the ground merely shook slightly, a few rocks erupting from the ground to distract her while he cast Haste on himself. His body suddenly seemed to take on a reddish tinge, almost as if he were smoldering, and he rushed past her from the left side, grabbing her leg, and spinning her around before smashing her into a wall.

As his opponent's body went flying from his grasp, Zack ripped his sword from where it was embedded in the platform. While his back was turned, Tifa had spring-boarded off the wall to land back on the platform, narrowly avoiding tumbling into the murky water below. Not wanting to be at a disadvantage, she thumbed the Time materia on her bracelet and cast Haste on herself as well, matching his new boost in speed. She dashed forward, slamming his right shoulder hard with her fist in an attempt to dislodge his weapon from his grasp and give her a bit more of an advantage. However, Zack was already in control of his increased speed and easily dodged down and to the side, her fist catching empty air next to his head.

His momentum sent him tipping back and he kicked his legs up from the ground, slamming his foot out into her knee. Tifa buckled, biting down on her lip to keep from crying out in pain as she toppled face first down onto Zack's chest. He hit the ground first, his palms coming up to cup her breasts as she fell into his hands. There was a pause as he grinned up at her, "That's how you cop a feel SOLDIER-style."

Before Tida could react, her body was lifted into the air by a miniature tornado and she was hurled off into the arena. Zack watched her twirling mid-air and suddenly realized she had regained her momentum and was heading heel-first for his sword arm. Without time to react, her foot slammed into his right wrist, sending his sword skidding across the platform. "You can feel me up AFTER the match," she yelled, smirking as he winced in pain from the injured wrist. Landing ungracefully half on her bad knee, she crouched down where she was to see how her attack had effected his battle tactics.

Zack winced in pain as he placed both palms on the arena floor and cast aero again to lift himself to a stance. The moment his boots hit solid ground he dashed toward his sword, casting quake toward the ground before him. A column of rock jutted out of the ground and Zack easily hopped up the face, jumping into the air to catch his sword from where it had been tossed mid-air. He twisted back, activating his "Braver" limit and falling into a decent toward Tifa, who watched from below. As she peered up, all she could see was the silhouette of her opponent against the harsh halogen arena lights. The sword was heading straight for her and her only thought was escape. As if on command, one of the marbles on her bracelet shone with a green light and she flickered from sight.

The sword slammed into the arena floor once more, creating yet another fissure in the tile. Zack stood and left a hand on the hilt to look at where she had disappeared to, only to find Tifa perched atop the very rock he had just summoned up from the ground. "Are you trying to sever my leg?" she screamed down at him, obviously angry that he was being so brutal, "This is a spar, not a deathmatch!" She flicked another marble on her bracelet, causing ice shards to rain down toward where he was standing. A small ice spell was no match for the barrier he activated and the shards bounced off harmlessly, ricocheting back up toward their caster.

"Sorry, forgot I'm not fighting someone as skilled as a SOLDIER," he chuckled. Zack crouched and launched himself up as well, surpassing the shards with his increased speed as he hopped up the rocky ledges. He nearly made it to the top to strike at her when the haste wore off, causing his sword to fall short and nick the ledge just below her feet before he slammed into the side of the pillar.

With ice shards now heading toward her, Tifa whirled around and hopped down to the other side of the rock pillar, landing ungracefully at the bottom. With her opponent now dangling on the other side of the pillar and trying to right himself, she took the lull in the battle as a time to try and fix her handicap. Activating the cure materia, she placed her palm on her knee and rubbed slowly, letting the warm energy seep into her body and repair the injured muscles and work out the pain. Meanwhile, Zack placed a foot on the wall and pushed off, flipping his body up and over, dislodging his sword with him as he landed a few feet from where Tifa was crouched. She looked up to catch his smug grin but before he could spout off a taunt, she activated her exit materia and flickered from view.

Tifa reappeared on the opposite side of the rock wall and lept up to the very top, cocking her arm back and delivering a punch to the tip. The top sheared off into a large chunk headed straight toward where her opponent stood casting Haste on himself yet again. He looked up in time to see the falling boulder and jumped onto the wall, running vertically up its face as he unsheathed his sword again. The tip stabbed into the projectile, lodging it onto the blade, and allowed him to swing it back up behind his head and then down, shaking it free and sending it crashing down toward the floor where she stood.

As he let out a manical laugh, Tifa stood back up and shot her arm out toward the falling rock, a bolt of lightning flying from her bracelet and shattering it into dust. She brought her arms to cross her face, protecting her eyes but allowing minor cuts and scrapes to her forearms in the process.

"Damnit Zack, stop being so strong!" she screamed over the din of the explosion. SOLDIER enhancements must have been powerful stuff, she mused, considering he had managed to halt the trajectory of a massive boulder and reverse its direction. She knew his sword was a major source of his power, both as a lone weapon and due to the materia glittering in its hilt. In yet another attempt to disarm him, she hopped over chunks of shattered rock and cast Haste on herself as well to boost her speed enough to scale the wall.

Noticing that she was advancing up his tower, Zack dove off the top and free fell for a moment before casing Quake, sending another chunk of the arena floor jutting up into the air. His boots connected with the top and he shot up into the air with it, passing Tifa mid-run up the opposite wall. "Hey baby, want a ride?" he chuckled.

She pushed off the wall she was on and started spring-boarding up from wall to wall as he chided her from above. Her last push off the face of the wall sent her soaring straight for him, tackling at chest level and knocking them both off the platforms. As they fell, she gripped his shoulders and brought her knee up into his stomach. Zack's breath left his lungs as he choked for a moment and then shoved her off. He gripped his stomach and brought his hands together, activating a red materia in the process. Behind him, a giant tidal wave appeared from nowhere, carrying a massive sea snake in its waters. The wave slammed down onto the arena, shattering all the boulders and washing them off the platform and into the empty moat around it.

Tifa was crushed down with the force of the wave, her breath leaving in a gasp on impact and replaced with a mouthful of water as the arena began to resemble a giant pool. She struggled to keep from being tossed around too much as the waters raged around her, throwing rocks into her sides as she choked out what she had swallowed. Luckily the arena had sufficient drainage thanks to the moat surrounding the platform and with the flow stopped, Tifa was left crouched on her hands and knees, soaked and gasping for air in the middle. "That...that was...overkill..."

Zack hopped down with a small splash and chuckled, crouching down to lend her a hand up, "I thought you could use a shower after that intense battle."

She smacked his hand away and let herself collapse on the floor, her tired limbs no longer able to hold her up. Tifa rolled over and stared at him, still trying to catch her breath from nearly being drowned. "I'm not moving until you heal me, you bastard. I think we need a no materia rule from now on."

"Why," he asked, tilting his head to the side in mock confusion, "surely not just because you can't use it properly?" She glared and opened her mouth to protest until he placed his glowing hand gently on her chest, sending a strong surge of healing energy into the center of her body. The warm mako swept into her muscles and up toward the surface of her skin, closing the surface wounds and healing the bruises and fatigue underneath. Her face relaxed as the pain subsided and Zack smiled, knowing he hadn't caused any more damage than he could easily repair. The smile turned into a smirk as his hand wandered, sliding over her damp breast, thumb brushing against a nipple in the process. Tifa had to bite back a small moan as he continued to heal her in unison with copping a feel. His hand slipped around to her back and lifted her up from the floor, the other coming under her knees to lift her up from the arena floor.

"Lets say you and I go back to the room, take a short nap, and we take that gondola ride you promised?"

* * *

To be continued in Chapter 10 – Saucers and Spies: Part Deux

Bonus points to anyone who can spot the Clerks reference.


	10. Saucers and Spies: Part Deux

My excuse for the hiatus? Hmm, lessee...lost my job, graduated college twice (finished my undergrad, started and finished my Masters), worked at a summer computer camp, Mom started and finished chemotherapy (in remission, yay!), and now I've been unemployed for almost a year and a half since I was in graduate school and have yet to find a job now. But that means time to get back into writing, right? I know where this is eventually going, and there will be an end, and maybe spinoffs!

Also, for a while I refused to complete the last part of Crisis Core, just because I know what happens, and some retarded part of my mind is telling me if I don't play it through, it won't become reality. Of course, having played 7, I know no amount of me wimping out would stop the story from being what it is, so I finally picked it back up. Unfortunately, I also decided to allow my friend to homebrew my PSP...and he wiped my gamesave. SO, I now have to start CC over from the beginning, ARGH.

OH, and I just had to throw this in here. Goofing off on DeviantArt I came across a picture of Tifa in a school girl outfit and I'll be damned if it wasn't pretty much the exact image I had in mind when writing chapter 7. If you're interested, search DA for iurypadilha, it's titled "Tifa in secret clothes"...he's also got some other great work. I'm in no way associated with this artist, I just happened across the image...he probably drew it long before I wrote that chapter, and believe me, I know exactly where Schoolgirl!Tifa came from *glares at her muse*

Chapter 10 - Saucers and Spies: Part Deux

* * *

It was early evening when Tifa stirred from her much needed nap. Zack had healed her injuries, but cure materia could only do so much, and the fatigue had set in the second her head hit the pillow. As she stretched and yawned she realized he had left her in the soaked training clothes from their match, an unpleasant feeling to wake up to. Glaring at the slumbering man to her side, she wriggled from his grasp and made her way to the bathroom, stripping off the still damp garments and tossing them near her suitcase as she started a nice warm shower. The hot, clean water was much appreciated as it washed off the slimy feeling that the arena had left on her skin. She was still a bit irked that he pulled a summon on her when she barely had mastered control of her own basic spells, but then again, if he had to resort to one of the most powerful forms of materia combat, she must rank as a force to be reckoned with.

Giggling to herself as she fluffed her hair with a towel, she wrapped another around her body and stepped out of the steam-filled room to find Zack propped up in bed playing some kind of handheld game. He whistled appreciatively at her and shut the game off, tossing it over on the desk as he stood from the bed and made his way to where she stood. Zack's hands immediately went for the towel but she swatted them away, smiling sweetly at him, "The gondola is only open another 2 hours, shouldn't you be getting ready?" He opened his mouth to retort, but realized quickly that she was right. Tifa laughed as he sulked off to the bathroom to take his own shower while she busied herself getting dressed for an actual date that didn't require her masquerading as a prostitute or relative.

When Zack opened the bathroom door he was greeted by a vision of heaven clad in a purple-blue cocktail dress. Tifa had her back turned to him as she leaned over into the mirror to finish applying her makeup. The dress was simple, a strap of fabric looping around her neck and crossing over her breastbone to hold it up and the only accent being a gold chain belt sitting loosely about her hips. She wore her hair down so it fell just past the hem of her dress which stopped just high enough to be considered decent for a public outing. Zack fumbled around and tried to dress himself while keeping his eyes locked on her backside as she swayed in the mirror. His knee collided with the table and he tried to muffle a curse, but she turned around and smirked at his predicament. Pants half-way up, shirt unbuttoned and tie dangling around his shoulders, Zack looked more like a young boy trying to get dressed for church rather than a grown man going out on a date. Tifa slipped her matching blue heels on and stepped over to him, buttoning his shirt and fixing the tie as he secured his pants and belt.

Finally ready, the couple exited the hotel and made their way to the central area where all the various parts of the park were connected. Tifa headed toward the transport tube that would take them to the Round Square but Zack tugged her arm and pulled her in to the Wonder Square tube instead. "Zack, we only have 2 hours until the gondola closes," she reminded him.

He ran a hand through his hair and avoided her gaze, "Well yeah, but I seem to remember promising someone I'd win her a prize at the Wonder Square..."

Tifa smiled and circled her arms around one of his, pulling herself against his side and kissing his cheek lightly, "I thought I lost that bet, though."

"Oh you did," he grinned, "and I fully intend to claim my winnings later. But I'm not a cold-hearted bastard, either. And any chance to show off to a pretty lady..."

The transport stopped and opened into a carnival of neon lights and the metallic clanging of award bells. As they navigated through the rows of gaming machines Zack came upon the arm wrestling station which he took on with little effort, netting them a handful of GP in the process. He pocketed the winnings as Tifa wandered over to the nearby basketball machine. She swiped her pass and grabbed the ball, tossing it in effortlessly over and over as her score rocketed upward. At the end she turned to Zack and proudly handed him the pile of GP she had accumulated. His mouth hung open in shock as she stood there smirking, "I was on the basketball team in high school. You think that uniform you ruined the other night was the only one I wore?"

A few games later, including an impressive performance on the snowboard game by Zack who credited his skills to several missions in the Modeoheim area, Zack had a wallet full of GP and was itching to spend it. They approached the prize window and examined the list, but nothing piqued Tifa's interest. As Zack haggled the price on a piece of materia, a nearby Wonder Catcher caught her eye. She walked over and pressed her hands to the glass, eying up the plush toys within. Noticing his date was missing, Zack turned and found her at the machine, smirking at the magnetic pull stuffed toys seemed to have on girls. He placed a 100 gil coin in the slot and maneuvered the claw for a second before dropping it, nabbing a plush tonberry and dropping it in the prize slot. Tifa's eyes lit up as he made good on his word and handed her the prize which was quickly squeezed against her chest.

With his promise fulfilled, Zack felt it time to continue to their target destination and maneuvered Tifa back over to the transport station. A short tube ride later and they were at the Round Square standing before the towering Gondola Ride. The attendant ushered them into a cabin and closed the door, giving them a moment to be seated before the car lurched forward to allow for another one to be filled. Her heart was starting to beat faster as she seated herself on the bench opposite Zack; she knew why they were there and it was only a matter of time before the clothes came off. Not that she was against sex, at this point there was no way to deny she was addicted to him, but it was more of the location that had her nervous.

The ride started up and she noticed that Zack was more occupied with what was going on outside of the gondola car, rather than what was, or in this case wasn't, going on inside. Her foot tapped nervously on the floor as she smoothed down her dress and clasped her hands on her lap. As the car was half-way up the circle, his face and hands were pressed against the glass as he pointed to the glowing scenery below, "Check it out, you can see the whole Chocobo Racetrack from up here!"

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Are we going to do this or what?"

Mildly shocked, he looked over and she averted her eyes, chewing nervously on her bottom lip like an awkward teenager who had never been kissed. That's when the grin crept up on his face and he decided to have a little fun.

"Impatient, are we? Remember you were the one who stopped me in the hotel room. If you wanted me so bad you should've said so."

A well deserve punch landed on his right bicep as she glared at him, "Don't play innocent with me, Zack. We both know why we're here."

"Ooh, don't I get a 'Mr.' with that?" He chuckled, sliding across the bench to avoid another punch. The gondola car had reached the peak of the circular track, bringing them to the highest point above the Golden Saucer, and that's when Zack flicked his thumb over a piece of green materia. The gondola lurched to a halt, the chocobos on the race track stood still mid-gallop, and the entire world outside their car froze. She looked puzzled for a moment and then gave him a narrow-eyed smirk.

"This is why you weren't concerned about time," she accused.

Shrugging, he replied to her as he loosened his tie, "I make it work for me. Plus as a courtesy to my lovely date, you'll notice our car is suspended at the top, meaning the cars next to us can't see anything up here. And you thought I was all about the voyeurism."

Tifa slid over to his side of the car, the weight shift causing the whole thing to sway slightly. She sat next to him and brought her arms up around his neck, placing a light kiss behind his ear and traveling up his jawline.

"Hey, wasn't I supposed to be the one forcing you into this," he quipped, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her over to sit in his lap.

"Shut up, we both knew where this was going," she giggled as his lips teased at her neck. Her head rolled back, allowing him better access and a nice view of her cleavage. Rather than going for the clasp that held her dress up, his hands remained gently around her waist, holding her possessively against his chest as he did nothing more than rest his chin on her shoulder as they gazed over the neon playground below. Tifa's hand fluffed through his spikey hair, a bit puzzled at his lack of enthusiasm, but enjoying their position in a more emotional way.

They remained in the frozen car for several minutes, neither speaking a word, taking the time to enjoy the intimate silence. She could feel his breath on her ear, relaxed and content, and she realized that this was the sort of moment she used to yearn for as a young girl. For all the fighting, sneaking around, lying and hurried liaisons of the past few months, it was all worth it for this one date.

Once the Stop spell wore off, the car abruptly lurched forward, sending them both sprawling to the floor. There was an awkward pause before they both burst into laughter and began untangling themselves to disembark from the ride. Once reseated on the bench, Zack slipped an arm around Tifa's shoulders and pulled her close, resting her head on his shoulder. She smiled up at him, "Thank you, Zack. This has been the best night I've ever had."

Grinning as the car reached the boarding platform, he pulled her to her feet and ushered her out of the gondola before him, whispering in her ear, "It was all worth it for that smile."

The couple walked back through Round Square with the various attractions shutting down for the night. At the transport station he motioned her toward the tube for the hotel. Tifa was still a bit fidgety on the ride over until Zack called her out on it.

"Well, it's just, I figured the purpose of the gondola ride was to...you know...I mean, not that I didn't like just cuddling up there, but knowing you I thought for sure we were gonna-"

Zack cut her off with a quick kiss. "I have to keep you on your toes, don't I? If you were expecting me to jump your bones the second we got in the car, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it? The night is young, Ms. Lockhart, and I'm not done with you yet..."


End file.
